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LECTURES 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  EPHESIANS 


BY  THE 

Rev.  WILLIAM  GRAHAM,  D.  D. 

OF  BONN,  PRUSSIA 

Author  of  "  The  Spirit  of  Love,"  "  On  Spiritualizing  Scriptubb,"  "  Thb 
Jordan  and  thk  Rhine,"  etc. 


PHILADELPHIA 
PRESBYTERIAN   BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION 

1334  CHESTNUT  STREET 


rWBSTCOTT& 

fin  A 


INTRODUCTION. 


It  is  with  great  satisfaction  tliat  this  volume  of  Lectures  on  the 
Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  is  submitted  to  the  American  public. 
Its  readers  will  find  that  it  is  a  book  of  no  ordinary  merit.  The 
characteristics  by  which  it  is  specially  marked  are  broad  learning, 
shown  in  results  rather  than  by  processes;  a  remarkable  knowledge 
of  the  Scriptures,  by  which  light  is  made  to  concentrate  upon  the 
text  under  consideration  from  a  nmltitude  of  related  passages ;  and 
an  intense  fervor,  enlightened  by  a  rare  spiritual  insight.  It  is 
a  book  to  be  read,  not  hastily,  but  section  by  section,  with  atten- 
tion and  meditation,  that  its  deep  thoughts  of  things  divine  and 
spiritual  may  be  grasped  and  made  our  own. 

Believing  that  its  readers  will  be  glad  to  know  something  of  the 
author  of  the  book,  we  give  a  brief  sketch  of  his  life,  now  (a.  d. 
1883)  in  its  seventy-third  year. 

William  Graham  is  a  native  of  Ireland,  the  son  of  a  pious  Pres- 
byterian farmer  of  moderate  means,  the  youngest  of  seven  chil- 
dren. His  mother  also  set  him  an  example  of  godly  living ;  so 
that  he  had  the  inestimable  advantages  of  a  home  in  which  God 
was  honored.  He  received  the  ordinary  education  of  a  farmer's  son — 
reading,  writing  and  arithmetic — and  helped  also  in  the  labors  of  the 
farm  until  his  fourteenth  year.  Then  his  mother's  death  changed 
his  position  and  awakened  in  him  new  sentiments.  In  the  most  sol- 
emn manner,  when  about  to  die,  she  charged  him  to  let  no  da> 
pass  without  reading  the  word  of  God  and  engaging  in  prayer. 
Tiiat  he  might  be  able  to  keep  this  charge,  he  formed  the  resolu- 
tion of  having  the  New  Testament  always  with  him,  and  for  twenty 
years  and  more  it  was  as  certainly  in  his  pocket  as  was  his  pocket 
in  his  coat. 

It  now  b(>.came  necessary  that  young  Graham  should  choose  a 
profession.  His  first  thoughts  were  for  the  ministry,  but  he  had 
no  means.  The  course  of  preparation  would  be  long  and  expen- 
sive. A  rich  relative  strongly  advised  him  against  the  attempt, 
on  the  ground   that  he  could  make  no  money  there.     He  w'as  hirn- 

.3 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

self  a  magistrate.  "  No,"  said  he ;  "  go  into  tlie  law  ;  I  may  be 
able  to  assist  you,  and  you  are  sure  to  succeed."  So  his  brother 
took  him  to  the  most  successful  attorney  in  Ballymena,  to  make 
arrangements,  if  possible,  for  his  entering  into  the  profession  of  the 
law.  As  they  entered  the  lawyer's  office  they  heard  him  cursing 
his  bailiffs  so  awfully  for  not  selling  a  poor  man's  cow  that  they 
were  frightened  and  went  away.  From  that  moment  his  purpose 
wa.s  fixed,  and  he  set  himself,  with  the  help  of  God,  to  bring  it  to 
})ass.  He  borrowed  an  English  grammar,  and  soon  mastered  it. 
He  then  got  an  old  Latin  grammar,  and  speedily  made  some 
acquaintance  with  the  rudiments  of  that  language.  Being  now 
qualified  for  teaching  in  a  country  school,  he  secured  a  position 
and  taught  during  the  day,  reading  Latin  and  Greek  at  night.  In 
this  way  he  prepared  himself  for  entering  college,  and  continued  to 
support  himself  thus  during  his  five  years  of  study  in  the  Royal 
College,  Belfast,  and  in  the  Assembly's  Theological  Hall  connected 

with  it. 

In  the  college  classes  the  country  lad  stood  high,  in  some  of 
them  the  highest,  and  in  Hebrew  he  distanced  all  competitors, 
reading  twice  as  much  as  had  ever  before  been  read  in  this  class. 
Hebrew  was,  and  still  is,  his  favorite  study. 

Having  passed  his  literary  and  theological  examinations,  Mr. 
Graham  was  licensed  to  preach  the  gospel  by  the  Presbytery  of 
Belfast,  and  was  sent  to  Westport,  in  the  West  of  Ireland,  to  re- 
vive, if  possible,  a  dilapidated  congregation  there.  Here  he 
remained  six  months,  when  he  was  called  to  the  parish  of  Dun- 
donald,  in  a  beautiful  valley  four  miles  from  Belfast.  Here  Mr. 
Graham  was  ordained,  and  then  retired  for  a  fortnight  to  a  cave 
on  a  bay  on  the  northern  shore  of  the  county  of  Antrim,  where 
was  a  cottage.  There,  with  his  Bible  and  Greek  Testament, 
alone  with  God  in  prayer  and  meditation,  he  dedicated  himself 
anew  to  the  service  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

He  spent  in  Dundonald  seven  happy,  laborious  and  successful 
vears.  The  congregation  had  lapsed  into  Arianism  and  indif- 
ference and  the  church-building  was  almost  in  ruins,  but  the 
young  pastor  was  full  of  zeal  and  faith.  On  Sunday  he  preached 
three  times— twice  in  the  church,  and  in  the  evening  in  the  out- 
skirts of  the  parish ;  in  summer  in  the  open  air,  and  in  winter  in 
barns,  school-houses  and  stores.  He  preached  also  often  during 
the  week,  and  was  systematic  in  family  visitation. 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

What  was  tlio  result  of  these  seven  years  of  labor?  The 
scattered  members  returned ;  strangers  from  a  distance  joined  the 
church  ;  the  house  was  tilled  to  overflowing' ;  divine  life,  like  spring 
after  frost,  burst  forth  in  the  various  fbrnis  of  conviction,  conver- 
sion, prayer,  praise,  brotherly  communion,  missionary  zeal  and  joy 
in  the  Holy  Ghost.  A  young  and  vigorous  eldership  led  in  prayei'- 
meetings ;  day-schools  Avere  established,  and  the  central  Sunday- 
school  was  one  of  the  most  successful  in  the  county.  Two  stations 
where  Mr.  Graham  preached  regularly  were  organized  into  inde- 
pendent congregations.  The  old,  dilapidated  church-edifice  was 
Torn  down,  and  a  new  and  comfortable  church  was  built. 

In  1842,  Mr.  Graham  was  chosen  by  the  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Ireland  to  open  a  mission  for  the  Jews  in  the  East.  It  was  to 
be  a  united  mission  of  Scotch,  Irish  and  American  Presbyterians. 
Arriving  at  Beirut,  he  met  Dr.  Wilson  of  Bombay,  who  had  been 
appointed  by  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland  to  join  him  in  choosing 
the  seat  of  the  mission.  After  examining  the  whole  of  Syria,  they 
fixed  on  Damascus.  The  commencing  of  a  mission  in  a  fanatical 
Mohammedan  city  is  accompanied  with  many  and  great  difficulties, 
but  Mr.  Graham,  afterward  joined  by  Mr.  Robson  (who  was  mur- 
dered by  the  Mohammedans  in  the  bloody  massacre  of  1861 ), 
maintained  his  ground.  x\fter  twelve  months  of  hard  labor,  he 
began  to  preach  in  Arabic.  On  the  Jews  no  impression  was 
made,  but  a  number  of  believers  were  gathered  out  of  the  Orien- 
tal (^reek  Church  and  formed  into  a  distinct  community,  and 
other  hap]iy  results  attended  the  labors  of  the  missionaries.  After 
five  years,  the  ill-health  of  his  family  and  the  death  of  four  chil- 
dren compelled  Dr.  Graham  to  leave  Syria. 

If  the  five  years  in  Damascus  were  to  Dr.  Graham  years  of  hard 
and  self-sacrificing  labor,  they  were  also  years  of  delight.  He 
lived  in  the  midst  of  Bible  scenes.  The  forms  of  patriarchs, 
prophets  and  a])ostles  were  passing  like  shadows  before  his  eyes. 
The  language,  the  customs  and  the  manners  of  the  Bible  lived 
again  to  him  in  the  life  of  the  people.  Passing  through  Palestine, 
with  reverence  and  awe  he  trod  "those  holy  fields"  consecrated 
by  the  footsteps  of  incarnate  love.  The  land  as  well  as  its  people 
was  dear  to  him,  so  that  he  left  Syria  with  great  regret. 

His  next  two  years  were  spent  in  Ireland,  preaching  everywhere 
in  the  churches,  striving  to  awaken  and  extend  the  missionary 
spirit  among  the  people.     Then  he  was  sent  to  Hamburg  to  assi.st 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

Dr.  Craig  in  his  mission  in  that  city.  In  three  months  he  began 
to  preach  in  German.  Here  he  preached  not  only  in  houses  and 
chapels,  but  also  in  streets,  fields  and  pleasure-gardens.  In  this 
novel  course  he  met  many  difficulties  and  dangers,  and  was  at 
length  arrested  by  the  magistrate  and  forbidden  to  preach  in  this 
public  way. 

From  Hamburg,  Dr.  Graham  was  sent  to  the  South  of  Germany, 
and  fixed  on  the  university-city  of  Bonn  as  the  seat  of  a  new  mis- 
sion. In  all  things  spiritual  the  place  was  cold  and  dead.  In- 
tellect was  supreme,  whilst  love  was  lying  in  the  dust  and  faith 
was  timid  and  inoperative.  Dr.  Graham  has  labored  in  that  field 
tor  more  than  thirty  years  with  remarkable  ingenuity  and  versa- 
tility as  well  as  zeal.  It  has  been  his  custom  to  preach  three 
times  every  Sunday — twice  in  English,  and  once  in  German.  On 
Wednesday  he  conducts  a  Bible  class.  On  Thursday  comes  his 
weekly  lecture,  and  on  Friday  a  conversation-meeting  in  German. 
He  opened  a  Sunday-school,  the  first  in'  South  Germany,  and  the 
mother  of  many  others.  His  large  library  was  put  freely  at  the 
disposal  of  the  public ;  he  lectured  in  the  university,  making  his 
linguistic  and  Oriental  culture  a  means  of  reaching  the  students  ; 
he  held  in  the  coflTee-gardens  social  reunions  which  were  closed  with 
religious  services ;  he  used  the  mail  for  reaching  those  to  whom  he 
had  not  access  otherwise ;  and,  in  short,  he  has  followed  the  apostle 
I'aul  in  making  himself  all  things  to  all  men  for  the  one  purpose 
of  saving  sinners  and  strengthening  saints.  He  still  labors  with 
unabated  zeal  in  Bonn. 

Dr.  Graham's  life  has  been  a  blessing  to  many,  of  different  tongues 
and  climes:  may  his  printed  words  in  this  volume  also  be  blessed  to 
many ! 


John  W.  Dulles. 
Philadelphia,  February  20,  1883. 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE. 


I  HAD  intended  to  write  an  introduction  to  this 
noble  Epistle  embodying  an  historical  account  of  the 
literature  connected  with  it  from  the  apostolic  age  till 
the  present  time,  and  had  es^en  collected  some  of  the 
materials  necessary  for  such  a  purpose ;  but  then  the 
thought  arose  in  my  mind,  Would  such  a  work  tend 
more  to  the  glory  of  God,  or  to  show  forth  your  own 
learning  and  researcli  ?  Is  it  necessary  for  the  expo- 
sition of  the  Epistle?  Would  it  repay  the  toil,  and, 
above  all,  would  it  interest  the  Christian  reader  ?  In 
seeking,  as  in  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  to  answer  these 
questions,  I  came  to  the  resolution  to  abandon  the  idea 
of  an  historical  introduction.  I  was  anxious,  also,  to 
make  the  book  as  cheap  as  possible,  that  it  might 
come  into  a  wider  circle  of  readers.  As  to  the  work 
itself,  I  have  little  to  say.  That  it  has  cost  me  much  la- 
bor and  extensive  reading  I  am  most  willing  to  confess. 
In  composing  it  I  had  with  me  and  around  me  the  prin- 
cipal literary  helps  of  both  ancient  and  modern  times. 
I  have  used  them  all  freely,  and  I  think  I  may  say  the 


8  AUTHOR'S    PREFACE. 

reader  will  find  in  this  Commentary  almost  everything 
of  importance  contained  in  the  Greek,  Latin,  English 
and  German  languages  on  the  criticism  of  our  Epistle. 
My  aim  was  not,  however,  to  give  quotations  and  fill 
my  pages  with  the  names  of  celebrated  authors  (which 
is  the  easiest  part  of  exposition),  but  to  weave  my  own 
studies  and  the  studies  of  others — the  literature  of  the 
East  and  the  West,  of  the  Latins  and  the  Greeks,  of 
the  English  and  the  Germans — into  one  harmonious 
tissue  of  heavenly  grace  and  beauty  ;  one,  yet  various  ; 
harmonious  as  the  light,  yet  manifold  as  the  bow  in  the 
cloud.  I  have  omitted  no  point  of  criticism,  and  yet 
criticism  is  not  the  great  object  of  the  book.  No ;  my 
object  is  to  open  up  the  infinite  fullness  of  our  living 
Head  to  all  weary  souls,  and  unfold,  as  far  as  I  see 
them,  the  glories  of  the  God-Man,  in  whom  and  for 
whom  I  live  and  move  and  have  my  being.  The 
Epistle  is  admitted  to  be  one  of  the  richest,  fullest 
and  noblest  in  the  Bible ;  and  all  its  treasures  of  wis- 
dom and  knowledge,  of  exhortation  and  love,  of  duty 
and  faith,  of  the  ho^^es  of  human  nature  and  the  mys- 
teries of  God,  are  valuable  only  as  they  centre  in  and 
flow  from  the  living  person  of  the  Son  of  God,  the 
Head  of  the  Church  and  of  the  whole  creation,  to 
whom  it  is  the  purpose  of  God's  Spirit  to  draw  us,  and 
in  whom  alone  we  find  satisfaction  and  repose.  I  have 
opened  up  very  fully  the  believer's  standing  in  tlie 
Christ  and  the  hopes  and  duties  which  naturally  flow 
from  it,  and  in  doing  so  I  have  rendered,  I  believe,  a 


AUTHOR'S    PREFACE  » 

good  service  to  the  present  generation  of  the  Church, 
who  are  more  occupied  than  they  ought  to  be  witli 
material  interests  and  worldly  pleasures.  Assurance 
of  salvation  is  nearly  banished  from  our  churches,  the 
doctrine  of  Christ's  Headship  is  only  faintly  asserted, 
the  hope  of  the  coming  and  kingdom  of  the  Redeemer 
is  darkened,  and,  generally  speaking,  our  Christianity 
is  not  that  happy,  unhesitating,  victorious  power  of  God 
in  the  soul  which  in  the  days  of  the  apostles  and  our 
martyred  fathers  shed  over  the  believing  Church  sucli 
brightness  and  glory.  The  cure  for  all  this  is  our 
realized  standing  in  the  risen  Head.  We  died  in  his 
death,  we  rose  with  him  from  the  grave,  and  now,  as 
believers,  we  ai-e  seated  with  him  in  the  heavenly 
places.  We  look,  not  up  from  earth  to  heaven,  but, 
according  to  our  Epistle,  we  look  down  from  heaven 
to  the  earth.  We  are  in  Christ,  and  from  his  heaven- 
ly throne  we  contemplate  the  vanities  of  this  passing 
world.  I  confess  it,  then,  one  main  design  of  this  work 
is  to  enable  thee  to  realize  more  clearly  thy  relations  to 
the  Lord  and  E-edeemer  of  his  Church.  For  this  end 
I  have  felt  the  Epistle  very  helpful  to  myself  in  taking 
me  out  of  the  shallows  of  modern  experience  and  the- 
ological commonplaces  into  the  deep,  pure  ocean  of 
divine  grace  and  love.  May  God  make  it  a  blessing 
to  many !  And  now  to  the  Lord  and  Saviour  of  his 
Church  be  glory  and  dominion  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen. 


LECTURES  ON  EPHESIANS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Paul,  an  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ  by  the  will  of  God,  to  the  saints 
which  are  at  Ephesus,  and  to  the  faithful  in  Christ  Jesus :  Grace  be 
to  you,  and  peace,  from  God  our  Father,  and  from  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who 
hath  blessed  us  with  all  spiritual  blessings  in  heavenly  places,  in  Christ: 
according  as  he  hath  chosen  us  in  him  before  the  foundation  of  the 
world,  that  we  should  be  holy  and  without  blame  before  him  in  love : 
having  predestinated  us  unto  the  adoption  of  children  by  Jesus  Christ 
to  himself,  according  to  the  good  pleasure  of  his  will,  to  the  praise  of 
the  glory  of  his  grace,  wherein  he  hath  made  us  accepted  in  the 
Beloved. — Ephesians  i.  1-6. 

We  are  now  commencing  one  of  the  richest  of  the 
Epistles — one  in  which  the  Holy  Spirit  unfolds  much 
of  the  purpose  and  love  of  God  to  the  children  of  men. 
We  are  here  permitted  to  drink  from  the  fountain-head 
and  refresh  our  souls  from  the  waters  of  life.  The 
author  is  God ;  the  writer  is  a  servant  and  an  apostle 
of  God ;  the  subject  is  salvation ;  the  persons  inter- 
ested are  the  whole  human  race ;  and,  as  to  utterance 
and  lofty  eloquence,  there  is  no  composition  known 
to  man,  in  the  Bible  or  out  of  it,  containing  more 
ennobling  doctrines  and  moralities,  more  earnestness, 
variety  and  sublimity,  than  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephe- 
sians.     The  Church  of  Christ   has   always   felt   it  to 

11 


12  GRAHAM   ON    EPHKSIAXS. 

be  a  peculiar  treasure,  and  it  would  be  easy  to  cite 
many  testimonies  to  that  effect  from  the  writers  of 
both  ancient  and  modern  times.  May  our  hearts 
burn  within  us  while  we  follow  the  loving,  burning 
thoughts  of  this  master  in  Israel !  May  our  hopes 
and  feelings  rise  with  the  great  theme  when  he  tells 
us  of  the  riches  of  divine  mercy,  the  dignity  and  glory 
of  the  redeemed  Church  and  the  love  of  Christ  which 
passeth  knowledge !  May  we  be  enabled  to  say  at 
every  fresh  discovery  of  grace,  "  Speak,  Lord,  for  thy 
servant  heareth  "  ! 

Yes,  it  is  our  Father  that  speaks  to  us  from  heaven, 
and  we  humbly  and  joyfully  bend  our  ear  to  the 
gracious  voice. 

I.  The  Apostleship  of  Paul. 

The  word  "  apostle  "  designates  one  sent  from  God, 
and  is  a  name  of  Christ  himself  (Heb.  iii.  1).  The 
twelve  whom  Jesus  chose  and  ordained  (Matt,  x.)  to 
be  with  him  and  to  preach  the  gospel  in  his  name  are 
by  way  of  eminence  called  '^  the  apostles  ^  and  they 
well  deserve  that  distinguishing  title,  for  they  laid 
the  foundations  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  the  various 
nations  of  the  world.  The  name  is,  however,  given  t<3 
several  others  in  the  New  Testament — as,  to  Titus 
(2  Cor.  viii.  23),  Epaphroditus  (Phil.  ii.  25),  Andro- 
nicus  and  Junius  (Rom.  xvi.  7),  to  Barnabas  and  Paul 
(Acts  xiv.  14;  ix.  15,  20).  Paul  names  himself  an 
apostle  of  Jesus  Christ  in  many  places  (Col.  i.  1 ; 
1  Tim.  i.  1  ;  2  Tim.  i.  1,  etc.).  The  twelve  were  called 
by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself  when  on  earth ;  they 
were  his  intimate  friends  and  companions ;  he  gavi' 
them    their    powers,    commission    and    qualifications; 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES   1-6.  13 

and  to  him  they  were  in  all  things  responsible.  They 
were  to  be  his  witnesses,  and  more  especially  the  wit- 
nesses of  his  resurrection ;  and  hence  they  must  have 
seen  and  known  the  Lord  (1  Cor.  ix.  1,2). 

It  was  the  appearance  of  Jesus  on  the  plain  of 
Damascus  which  changed  the  fierce  persecutor  into 
the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  (Acts  ix.  3).  This  was 
the  turning-point  of  his  marvelous  history,  and  he 
consulted  not  with  flesh  and  blood.  He  had  now  seen 
the  Lord,  and  was  in  so  far  qualified  to  be  his  apostle. 
No  doubt  the  external  sj^lendor  which  struck  him  to 
the  earth  was  a  type  of  an  inward  light  which  irradi- 
ated his  mind  and  filled  his  heart  with  peace  and  joy. 
Mede  considers  the  conversion  of  Paul  as  a  type  of  the 
conversion  of  the  Jewish  nation  and  containing  the 
following  typical  points :  First,  he  was  converted  by 
the  personal  appearance  of  Christ,  and  so  will  the 
whole  nation  be  at  the  second  advent ;  second,  his  con- 
version was  a  great  blessing  to  the  Gentiles,  and  he  is 
called  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  and  so  the  converted 
nation  of  Israel  will  be  like  life  from  the  dead  to  the 
world — a  new  source  of  blessedness  and  grace  to  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth. 

But  what  was  the  apostolic  office  ?  The  apostles  were 
called  and  appointed  directly  by  Christ  as  the  eye-  and 
ear- witnesses  of  their  Master.  On  this  ground  Matthias 
was  chosen  in  the  room  of  Judas  (Acts  i.  24—26),  and 
Paul  mentions,  among  the  proofs  of  his  apostleshij),  that 
he  had  seen  the  Lord  (1  Cor.  ix.  1)  and  heard  the  voice 
of  the  Holy  One  (Acts  xxii.  14) ;  so  that  he  could  be 
a  witness  unto  all  men  of  what  he  had  seen  and  heard. 
They  were  qualified  by  the  Lord  and  authorized  to  heal 
the  sick,  cleanse  the  lepers  and  raise  the  dead.     In  this 


14  GKAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

way  the  risen  life  of  Jesus  was  manifested  and  dispensed 
to  the  nations;  and  it  is  remarkable  that  all  their  works 
were  done  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  as  his  were 
done  in  the  name  of  the  Father  (Acts  iii.  6 ;  iv.  10 ;  iii. 
16).  They  were  inspired  by  God  (Gal.  i.  11,  12;  2 
Tim.  iii.  16),  and  endowed  with  the  wisdom,  faithful- 
ness and  strength  necessary  for  the  founding  of  the 
kingdom  of  God;  but  their  chief  and  distinguishing 
function,  which  they  shared  with  none,  was  the  j^ower 
of  conveying  the  Holy  Ghost  by  the  laying  on  of  hands 
(Acts  vi.  6 ;  viii.  16 ;  xix.  6).  These  wonderful  powers 
were  connected  with  the  deepest  humility  and  most 
abundant  sufferings  (Matt.  x.  17  ;  Acts  v.  17,  18 ;  John 
XV.  19 ;  Acts  xvi.  33  ;  2  Cor,  iv.  10) ;  so  that  the  powers 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  working  in  them  thus  mightily — 
power  over  disease  and  Satan  and  death — brought 
them  nothing  but  the  opposition  and  hatred  of  man- 
kind. Love  was  returned  with  hatred ;  patience,  with 
cruel  mockery ;  and  their  public  labors,  with  scourging, 
imprisonment  and  death.  Such  is  the  way  love  con- 
quers the  souls  of  men.  It  is  out  of  suffering  and  death 
that  the  triumphs  of  the  gospel  spread  over  the  world ; 
and  this  Epistle,  so  full  of  peace  and  love  and  heavenly 
hope,  was  written  from  the  dungeons  of  Rome. 

II.  The  Saints  at  Ephesus. 

He  did  not  write  to  the  Ephesians,  but  "  to  the  saints 
which  are  at  Ephesus,  and  to  the  faithful  in  Christ 
Jesus. ''^ 

Saint,  in  both  the  sacred  languages,  signifies  "clean," 
''pure,"  "without  blemish"  (Kom.  xii.  1),  and  hence 
it  is  beautifully  applied  to  the  faithful  followers  of  the 
Lamb  who  have  escaped  the  pollution  that  is  in  the 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES   1-6.  15 

world  through  hist  (Acts  ix.  13,  22,  32,  41 ;  xxvi.  10 ; 
Kom.  i.  7 ;  viii.  27).  Forasmuch,  also,  as  the  best  and 
the  purest  of  everything  in  the  old  dispensation  was 
separated  and  set  apart  for  the  Lord,  the  word  "  holy  " 
became  synonymous  with  "  consecrated  to  God ;"  and 
in  this  respect  also  believers  are  saints :  they  have 
given  up  the  world;  they  have  crucified  the  flesh 
with  its  affections  and  lusts ;  and  in  body,  soul  and 
spirit  they  are  dedicated  to  God. 

These  saints  in  Ephesus  were  a  small  part  of  the 
population  of  that  luxurious  city,  and  in  the  hum  and 
bustle  of  a  great  capital  they  were  little  noticed,  or 
noticed  only  to  be  despised.  Such  was  the  judgment 
of  man,  but  the  eye  of  God  was  uj^on  them  in  their  no- 
ble contendings,  and  the  heart  of  Christ  was  responsive 
to  their  cries.  Fallen  and  lost  as  we  are,  there  is  some- 
thing within  us,  there  are  some  remnants  of  the  unfallen 
glory,  which  can  never  be  satisfied  with  shadows.  We 
long,  if  we  knew  how,  to  reach  upward  into  the  holiest 
of  all,  that  we  may  find  tranquillity  and  satisfaction  in 
God.  To  such  longing,  thirsty  souls  the  gospel  comes 
as  life  from  the  dead ;  it  puts  them  on  the  way  of  holi- 
ness by  giving  them  an  object  to  fix  and  draw  out  their 
affections,  even  Jesus  Christ  the  Crucified ;  and  the 
feeble  lights  and  powers  of  nature  are  strengthened 
and  brightened  by  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Now 
that  their  strength  is  renewed,  they  may  have  some 
hope  of  final  and  complete  victory  in  wrestling  with 
the  evils  within  and  around  them ;  in  the  act  of  be- 
lieving, their  eyes  have  been  opened  to  sin  and  right- 
eousness; God  and  his  creature  man  appear  to  them 
in  a  new  and  more  glorious  light ;  what  satisfied  them 
formerly  pleases   them  now  no  more ;    for   the  long- 


16  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

ing,  living  soul  will  seek  its  native  skies  and  be  tran- 
quillized with  nothing  but  the  enjoyments  of  its  God, 

"  And  onward,  still  onward,  arising,  ascending 
To  the  right  hand  of  power  and  joy  never  ending." 

The  saint  or  believer  in  Christ  has  a  different  theory 
of  life  from  other  men.  Most  men  are  practically  ma- 
terialists, having  this  world  for  their  home  and  riches 
for  their  god. 

"Eat,  drink  and  die!     What  can  the  rest  avail  us? 
So  said  the  royal  sage  Sardanapalus," 

is  the  very  spirit  of  the  thoughtless,  bustling  world. 
The  saints  at  Ephesus  had  been  led  to  see  something 
higher  than  this  in  the  life  of  man  and  the  destiny 
that  awaits  him.  Time  was  but  the  beginning  of  their 
existence ;  crowns  of  glory  sparkled  in  the  distance ; 
God  was  their  Father,  Christ  their  Redeemer'  and  the 
Holy  Spirit  their  Sanctifier.  Suffering  and  trial  and 
persecutions  of  all  kinds  were  nothing  compared  with 
the  hopes  that  filled  and  sustained  them.  They  had 
their  sorrows,  no  doubt,  but  he  was  the  Man  of  sor- 
rows; they  might  well  tread  the  thorny  path,  when 
their  Master  wore  a  crown  of  thorns.  He  was  the 
Holy  One  of  God,  and  they  were  called  to  be  saints, 
lioly,  pure  and  consecrated  to  him  in  all  things.  They 
would  share  his  fortunes,  and  in  the  life-boat  with  Jesus 
commit  themselves  to  the  shoreless  sea.  They  prefer- 
red heaven  to  Asia  Minor,  and  the  temple  of  God  above 
to  the  temple  of  Diana,  whom  the  Ephesians  so  fiercely 
worshiped  (Acts  xix.  28). 

Such  were  the  saints  in  days  of  old,  and  such 
should  they  be  still — men  whose  character  is  holy, 
whose  home  is  hi  the  skies,  and  whose  supreme  desire. 


CHAPTER    I.     VERSES   1-6.  17 

living  or  dying,  is  to  glorify  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.     Are  we  such  ? 

The  apostle  adds  ''and  to  the  faithful  in  Christ 
Jesus,"  which  shows  that  the  apostle  was  not  interested 
for  the  saints  at  Ephesus  alone,  but  for  all  believers 
universally.  It  is  a  truly  catholic  Epistle,  and  we 
might  say,  with  Coleridge,  that  almost  every  doctrine 
of  Christianity  may  be  found  in  it.  It  is,  therefore,  a 
treasure  intended  of  the  Lord  for  the  special  benefit 
of  the  whole  Church  in  all  ages. 

III.  The  Wish  or  Prayer. 

Grace  he  to  you,  and  peace,  from  God  our  Father, 
and  from  the  Lord  Jesus   Christ   (ver.  2). 

The  apostle  begins  with  grace  and  ends  with  grace 
(Eph.  vi.  24);  and  the  themes  which  he  so  sublimely 
discusses  are  all  but  the  manifold  forms  of  the  same 
principle,  drops,  showers,  rills,  rivers,  from  the  ocean- 
fullness  of  divine  grace — grace  in  the  heart  of  God, 
which  is  election ;  grace  in  the  cross  of  Christ,  which 
is  redemption ;  grace  in  the  office  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
which  is  sanctification ;  grace  in  the  Church  militant, 
which  is  obedience ;  grace  in  the  Church  triumphant, 
which  is  the  reward  of  glory ;  grace  everywhere,  and 
grace  for  ever. 

But  what  is  this  grace  f  It  is  the  free  favor  and  lov- 
ing disposition  of  our  heavenly  Father,  which  disposes 
him  to  bless  and  receive  his  fallen  creatures.  Trace 
the  word  through  all  languages,  and  you  are  led,  step 
by  step,  onward  and  upward  to  the  fountain  of  divine 
benevolence.  Fix  your  eye  upon  any  one  stream  of  the 
royal  beneficence  of  God,  be  it  ever  so  small,  or  ever 
so  far  removed  from  its  source,  or  ever  so  dissimilar  in 

3 


18  GRAHAM    ON    P:PHESIANS. 

form  to  its  fellows,  you  will  fiiul,  if  you  follow  it,  tlmt 
it  brings  you  to  the  fountain  of  grace,  the  boundless 
ocean  of  divine  goodness  and  love.  Grace,  in  the 
Holy  Scripture,  is  in  every  way  connected  with  God. 
The  Father  is  the  God  of  all  grace  (1  Pet.  v.  10)  ; 
Jesus  is  the  Author,  Giver  and  Dispenser  of  grace 
(Acts  XV.  11 ;  2  Cor.  viii.  9;  Rom.  xvi.  20;  1  Thess. 
V.  28) ;  and  the  Holy  Spirit  is  called  the  Spirit  of 
grace  (Heb.  x.  29),  who  dispenses  to  the  Church  his 
gifts  and  graces  as  he  pleases  (1  Cor.  xii.  1-14).  The 
seat  of  the  divine  Majesty  is  the  throne  of  grace  (Heb.  iv. 
16)  ;  the  gospel  is  called  the  word  of  his  grace,  and  be- 
lievers are  the  children  of  his  grace.  The  first  word  the 
voung  believer  utters  is  "grace,"  and  the  oldest  dies 
with  the  same  word  on  his  lips.  It  is  this  free  grace 
which  makes  God  the  sovereign  Giver  and  man  the 
humble  receiver ;  it  is  this  which  lends  to  the  gospel 
its  chief  glory  and  renders  speechless  in  the  presence 
of  God  those  who  reject  it.  It  is  this  which  roots  out 
the  principles  of  pride  and  human  merit  and  surrounds 
the  mercy  of  God  with  unparalleled  splendor,  which 
annihilates  the  pretensions  of  a  sacrificing  priesthood 
and  opens  up  to  believers  visions  of  inexpressible 
brightness  and  glory.  The  portals  of  heaven  are 
thrown  open  to  mankind ;  the  river  that  flows  from 
the  smitten  rock  is  free  for  all  that  are  thirsty ;  and 
an  amnesty  free  as  the  air  and  wide  as  the  world  is 
announced  to  the  guiltiest  rebels.  This  is  grace.  Je- 
hovah makes  no  conditions  with  his  creatures ;  he  took 
no  counsel  witli  men  in  forming  the  plan  of  redemp- 
tion ;  and  the  Sun  of  righteousness,  like  the  sun  of 
nature,  slieds  his  beams  over  us  whether  we  will  or 
not.     Incarnation,  atonement,  resurrection   and  medi- 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES   1-6.  19 

ation  are  but  steps  in  the  manifestation  of  his  grace. 
His  acts  are  in  keeping  with  his  character,  and  neither 
in  creation  nor  in  providence  does  the  divine  majesty 
shine  forth  more  gloriously  than  it  does  from  the  throne 
of  grace. 

The  apostle  connects  grace  with  peace:  '^ Grace  be 
to  you,  and  peace,  from  God  our  Father,  and  from  the 
Lord,  Jesus  Christ^  Peace  is  a  lovely  characteristic  of 
the  gospel.  Everything  breathes  peace  and  pardon  to  the 
believer.  Jehovah  is  called  the  God  of  peace  (Rom.  xv. 
33  ;  Phil.  iv.  9;  1  Thess.  v.  23  ;  2  Thess.  iii.  16  ;  Heb.  xiii. 
20).  Jesus  is  called  ''the  Prince  of  peace"  (Isa.  ix.  6), 
and  peace  is  in  every  way  associated  with  his  character 
and  work.  His  name  is  the  King  of  peace;  angels 
sang .  over  him  in  Bethlehem  the  song  of  peace ;  his 
gospel  is  the  gospel  of  peace ;  his  kingdom  is  the  king- 
dom of  righteousness  and  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy 
Ghost.  He  himself  came  and  preached  jDcace  to  them 
that  were  near  and  to  them  that  were  far  off.  His 
blood  is  the  seal  of  peace.  In  one  sweet  j)assage  it  is 
said,  "  He  is  our  peace ;"  and  the  ministers  of  the  gos- 
pel are  the  messengers  of  peace. 

But  what  does  the  word  "peace"  mean?  It  includes 
peace  with  God,  peace  of  conscience  and  peace  with 
our  fellow-men ;  it  declares  that  the  veil  between  you 
and  God  is  rent,  and  that  you  have  free  access  to  the 
holiest  of  all ;  it  is  the  assurance  to  your  trembling  con- 
science that  the  enmity  is  taken  away  and  that  God  is 
love.  This  is  what  we  receive  in  believing — that  which 
Jesus  promised,  and  which  the  world  can  neither  give 
nor  take  away.  It  is  strong  and  perfect  in  proportion 
as  the  eye  rests  on  Christ ;  it  becomes  weak  and  broken 
in  proportion  as  you  love  earthly  things.     In  the  assur- 


20  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

ance  of  this  peace  we  brave  the  storms  of  life,  and  in 
the  same  tranquillizing  conviction  we  fall  asleep  m 
Jesus.  Sin  alone  can  disturb  this  calm  and  blissful 
repose.  It  bids  defiance  to  the  rage  of  the  persecutor, 
and  is  never  more  radiant  than  when  in  pain  and 
torture  it  looks  upward  to  the  martyr's  crown   (Acts 

vii.  60). 

These  two  blessings  of  grace  and  peace  are  "Jroni 
God  our  Father,  and  from  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ:'  The 
Socinian  gloss  which  makes  this  sense  "  grace  and  peace 
from  God  the  Father  of  us  and  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ "  is  forced  and  improbable ;  nor  would  it  answer 
the  purpose  intended,  for  Christ  is  constantly  repre- 
sented in  Scripture  as  the  Author  of  grace  and  peace 
(Acts  XV.  11;  2  Cor.  viii.  9;  1  Tim.  i.  14).  It  is 
therefore  very  manifest  that  Christ  the  Son  is  joined 
with  God  the  Father  in  this  prayer  of  the  apostle,  and 
both  are  represented  as  the  fountain  of  spiritual  bless- 
ings. I  do  not  think  the  passage  teaches  that  grace  is 
to  be  referred  specially  to  the  Father  and  peace  to  the 
Son,  for  other  scriptures  attribute  these  blessings  indif- 
ferently to  both.  The  meaning  is  that  grace  and  peace 
flow  equally  from  the  Father  and  the  Son  ;  they  are 
both  equally  the  fountain  of  blessing. 

We  ought  not  to  forget  the  deep  meaning  (^f  that 
name  ''God  our  Father.''  Luther  has  observed  that 
the  glory  of  the  Scriptures  stands  in  the  pronouns. 
Everything  is  personal  and  goes  directly  to  the  heart. 
It  is  not  God,  but  my  God  ;  not  Father,  but  m,y  Father ; 
not  confession  in  the  mass,  but  God  be  merciful  to  7ne, 
a  sinner.  This  is  living,  saving,  appro])riating  faith, 
as  distinguished  from  a  cold,  dead,  inoperative  faith 
which  only  makes  men  and  devils  tremble.     Chalmers 


CHAPTER    I.     VERSES   1-6.  21 

observes  that  a  being  of  known  power,  but  unknown 
purpose,  necessarily  terrifies  us ;  and  we  add  that  the 
power  and  the  purj)ose  are  both  made  known  in  the 
glorious  name  "  God  our  Father."  Here  majesty  and 
love  are  united,  and  the  thunderbolts  of  Omnipotence 
are  guided  by  a  Father's  hand.  He  is  the  great  and 
terrible  God  before  whom  the  sinner  trembles,  but  he 
is,  at  the  same  time,  the  loving  Father  who  invites  the 
returning  prodigal  to  his  arms.  In  his  Godhead  we 
see  the  power  that  can,  and  in  his  paternity  the  disposi- 
tion that  will,  protect  us  and  bless  us.  He  is  our  God 
and  Father,  His  power  and  his  love  are  around  us. 
We  are  not  creatures  only,  but  children  also,  and 
sharers  of  the  heavenly  inheritance.  We  can  say  not 
only  "  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner,"  but  also  "  Our 
Father  which  art  in  heaven." 

Consider  now  for  a  moment  the  title  of  the  Son  of 
God  which  stands  opposed  to  the  name  "  God  our  Fa- 
ther" in  our  text — "the  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

First.  The  name  Lord  is  the  highest  in  the  Greek 
language  for  denoting  the  underived  and  eternal  King 
and  Creator  of  all  things.  Hence  the  Seventy  use  it 
everywhere  for  the  unutterable  name  "Jehovah;"  some- 
times for  "  Elohim,"  as  Job  xix.  21 ;  xxxiii,  26 ;  some- 
times for  "El,"  as  Job  v.  8 ;  ix.  2;  xii.  6;  and  some- 
times for  "  Jail,"  as  Ps.  cxv.  17 ;  cl.  6.  This  glorious 
title  is  in  our  text,  and  in  the  New  Testament  gener- 
ally, applied  to  Jesus  Christ,  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 
He  is  emphatically  and  in  the  highest  sense  Kurios  or 
Lord  (Mark  xvi.  19,  20 ;  Acts  viii.  25 ;  xix.  10 ;  2  Cor. 
iii.  17;  Eph.  v.  10;  Col.  iii.  23;  2  Thess.  iii.  1-5; 
2  Tim.  iv.  8).  He  is  Lord;  he  is  the  Lord  ;  he  is  our 
Lord  (Eph.  iii.  11;  1  Tim.  i.  2 ;  2  Pet.  i.  1);  he  is 


22  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

Lord  of  all  (Rom.  x.  12)  ;  he  is  the  Lord  Jehovah  (Ps 
eii.  25),  who  created  the  universe  (Heb.  i.  10)  ;  aiic 
believers  are  emphatically  said  to  be  "  in  the  Lord  "— 
that  is,  united  to  him— in  their  earthly  trials  and  in 
their  heavenly  glory  (Phil.  iii.  1 ;  1  Cor.  i.  31).  Lord, 
therefore,  applied  to  Jesus,  denotes  all  power,  dominion 
and  authority  over  the  Church  and  the  creation. 

Second.  He  is  called  Jesus,  which  is,  in  fact,  the 
Hebrew  Jehoshua,  "Jehovah  the  Saviour,"  so  called 
because  he  shall  save  his  people  from  their  sins  (Matt. 
i.  21).  "Jesus"  was  a  common  personal  name  among 
the  Hebrews,  and  is  applied  to  Joshua  (Acts  vii.  45 ; 
Heb.  iv.  8)  and  to  Justus,  the  fellow-laborer  with  Paul 
(Col.  iv.  11).  It  is  therefore  the  human  name  of  the 
Redeemer — the  name  which  connects  him  with  us — 
and  is  for  that  very  reason  the  sweetest  of  all  his 
names.  It  sounds  sweet  in  a  believer's  ear.  As  "  God 
and  Father  "  unites  the  ideas  of  power  and  love  in  the 
Godhead,  so  "  Lord  Jesus  "  unites  in  the  Mediator  maj- 
esty and  condescension,  lordly  dominion  and  weep- 
ing tenderness.  He  is  the  lion  and  the  lamb,  the 
mightiest  and  the  meanest,  the  sceptre-bearer  of  cre- 
ation and  the  burden-bearer  of  a  ruined  world.  All 
contrarieties  and  diversities  meet  and  are  harmonized  in 
him.  He  is  the  possessor  of  all,  and  yet  he  has  noth- 
ing. He  stills  the  tempests  and  raises  the  dead,  and 
yet  he  sits  weary  at  the  mouth  of  a  well.  He  is  the 
Ancient  of  days  and  the  Infant  of  Bethlehem.  He  is 
the  Son  of  God  and  the  Son  of  the  Virgin  Mary. 

These  names,  Lord  and  Jesus,  taken  from  the  most 
distant  and  contradictory  objects,  are  intended  to  show 
that  he  is  the  great  Unity  or  Head,  in  whom  all  things 
in  heaven  and  on  the  earth  are  to  be  gathered  up  (Eph. 


CHAPTER    1.    VERSES   1-6.  23 

i.),  in  whom  all  promises  and  threateniiigs  should  fiud 
tlieir  proper  expression,  in  whom  the  mortal  and  the 
immortal,  the  finite  and  the  infinite,  the  conditioned 
and  the  unconditioned,  should  meet  and  be  reconciled. 
This  is  the  glory  of  the  Redeemer,  and  it  is  in  this 
character  the  saints  delight  most  to  contemplate  him. 
The  Lord  has  become  Jesus,  the  Word  was  made  flesh 
and  God  has  been  manifested  in  our  nature  (1  Tim. 
iii.  16).  This  is  the  sure  foundation  laid  in  Zion  where 
the  weary  soul  finds  a  resting-place.  The  Church  is 
built  on  the  person  of  Christ,  the  Rock  of  ages  against 
which  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail.  Here  the 
wanderer  finds  a  home  and  the  prodigal  a  Father. 
Eternity  alone  can  expound  the  love  that  is  contained 
in  these  two  names — "  Lord  Jesus  " — and,  as  for  us 
poor  guilty  sinners,  we  can  only  taste  and  see  that  he 
is  gracious. 

But,  third,  he  is  also  called  in  our  text  Christ, 
which  means  "  the  Messiah,"  the  anointed  King  of 
Israel  (John  i.  41).  This  denotes  his  public,  official 
character  as  the  Prophet,  Priest  and  King  of  his 
Church.  All  light  centres  in  him  as  the  anointed 
Prophet  and  Revealer;  all  pardoning  mercy,  as  the 
atoning  High  Priest ;  and  all  power  and  majesty,  as 
the  victorious  King.  The  three  essential  wants  of  oui 
fallen  nature  are  met  and  supplied  in  the  Christ:  our 
ignorance  is  cured,  our  guilt  forgiven  and  our  chains 
broken.  He  is  the  anointed  One — the  Prophet,  Priest 
and  King.  These  three  great  orders  of  nobility  meet 
in  him  alone.  The  three  lines  of  men — the  prophets 
with  their  lamps,  the  priests  with  their  sacrifices,  and 
the  kings  with  their  royal  splendor — have  met  in 
Bethlehem,  where   the  Anointed    of  God   was   born; 


21  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

and  all  their  lamps,  altars  and  thrones  were  but  types 
and  premonitions  of  his  manifold  fullness.  He  is  the 
Christ,  and  their  anointing  came  from  and  pointed  to 
him  alone. 

Here  we  see  the  meaning  of  the  name  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  Lord  denotes  his  Godhead;  Jesus,  his  man- 
hood; and  Christ,  both  united  in  one  Mediator,  the 
God-Man.  Thus  this  glorious  name,  so  often  men- 
tioned and  so  little  thought  of,  is  the  very  fountain 
of  God's  fullness  to  the  children  of  men,  and  the 
foundation-stone  on  which  the  system  of  redemption 
rests. 

We  come  now  to  verse  3,  which  contains — 

IV.  The  Doxology. 

Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Chi'ist,  who  hath  blessed  us  with  all  spiritual  blessings 
in  heavenly  places  in  Christ.  This  is  the  usual  form 
of  the  doxologies  in  Scripture,  and,  as  there  is  a  point 
of  criticism  to  be  determined  before  they  can  be  ex- 
pounded, we  shall  examine  a  few  of  them  particularly. 
In  the  Hebrew,  as  in  the  Greek  and  the  English,  the 
adjective  always  comes  first  (Gen.  ix.  26 ;  xxiv.  27 ; 
Ex.  xviii.  10 ;  Ruth  iv.  14 ;  1  Sam.  xxv.  32,  39 ;  2  Sam. 
xviii.  28 ;  1  Kings  i.  48 ;  v.  7  (in  Heb.  21) ;  viii.  15, 
56 ;  1  Chron.  xvi.  36 ;  2  Chron.  ii.  12  (Heb.  11) ;  vi.  4  ; 
Ezra  vii.  27  ;  Ps.  xxviii.  6  ;  xxxi.  21 ;  xli.  13  (Heb.  14) ; 
Ixviii.  19  (Heb.  20) ;  Ixxii.  18 ;  Ixxxix.  52  (Heb.  53) ; 
evi.  48 ;  cxxiv.  6 ;  cxxxv.  21 ;  cxliv.  1 ;  Zech.  xi.  5 ; 
Ezek.  iii.  12). 

Now,  we  observe,  Jirst,  in  all  these  cases  the  adjec- 
tive comes  first  in  both  the  Hebrew  and  the  Septuagint, 
exactly  as  in  the  English.     This  seems  to  be  the  uni- 


CHAPTER   I.    VERSES  1-6.  25 

versal  law  of  these  doxologies  in  both  the  Hebrew  and 
the  Greek ;  nor  can  any  argument  be  based  on  Ps,  Ixviii. 
19,  where  in  the  Greek  Septuagint  the  noun  comes  first 
and  the  adjective  follows,  and  that  for  the  following 
reasons :  (1)  The  Greek  is  a  false  translation  of  the 
Hebrew  text;  (2)  in  the  Greek  it  is  falsely  jDunctu- 
ated;  (3)  the  adjective  "blessed"  occurs  twice,  while 
it  is  found  only  once  in  the  Hebrew ;  (4)  the  adjective 
is  in  the  first  instance  placed  after,  and  in  the  second 
before,  its  subject;  so  that,  if  anything  can  be  made 
of  the  Greek  text,  the  two  forms  must  be  translated 
differently ;  (5)  I  am  persuaded  that  the  Septuagint  is  in 
this  passage  quite  corrupt.  For  these  reasons  I  refuse 
to  admit  that  the  Septuagint  of  Ps.  Ixviii.  19  is  an  exam- 
ple of  a  doxology  where  the  noun  precedes  the  adjective. 

But,  second,  we  observe  that  when  the  verb  to  be  is 
used,  then  the  noun  comes  before  its  adjective  in  both 
the  Hebrew  and  the  Greek  (1  Kings  x.  9 ;  2  Chron. 
ix.  8).  In  the  New  Testament  the  same  law  holds. 
In  1  Pet.  i.  3  there  is  no  verb,  and  the  adjective  pre- 
cedes the  noun,  as  in  our  text ;  so  also  in  2  Cor.  i.  3 ; 
Luke  i.  6S  ;  whereas  in  Ps.  cxiii.  2  ;  Job  i.  21 ;  2  Chron. 
ix,  8 ;  1  Kings  jl.  9  the  verb  to  be  is  used  in  both  the 
Greek  and  the  Hebrew,  and  therefore  the  adjective 
stands  at  the  end  of  the  sentence.  According  to  this 
clear  law  of  both  the  sacred  languages,  therefore,  Rom. 
ix.  5  can  never  be  translated  as  a  doxology.  All  the 
learned  labors  of  Socinians  and  rationalists  are  in  vain 
as  to  that  text;  and  "God  over  all,  blessed  for  ever" 
must,  in  spite  of  all  their  efforts,  be  applied  to  the 
divine  nature  of  Christ. 

But  now  what  is  the  meaning  of  "  the  God  and 
Fathei'  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Chrisf'' f 

4 


26  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

Bloomfield  and  many  others  take  "Father"  to  be 
expository  of  "  God,"  and  render  the  phrase,  as  our 
translators  have  done  in  Rom.  xv.  6,  "  God,  even  the 
Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  which  would 
make  the  whole  phrase  "  even  the  Father  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ "  parenthetical,  and  the  meaning 
of  the  verse  would  be,  "  Blessed  be  God  (I  mean  the 
Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ),  who  hath  blessed 
us  with  all  spiritual  blessings  in  Christ."  But  if  Paul 
meant  to  say,  "  Blessed  be  God,  who  is  the  Father 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  or,  which  is  the  same 
thing,  "  Blessed  be  God,  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,"  there  is  a  direct  and  appropriate  Greek  form 
which  he  would  naturally  have  employed.  Besides,  in 
such  a  translation  the  "and"  seems  superfluous.  De 
Wette,  Kistemaker  and  others  translate  it  "  Gelobet  set 
Gott  und  der  Vaier  unsers  Herrn  Yesu  Christi"  as  if 
in  the  Greek  the  article  belonged  o  Father  and  not  to 
God,  as  we  could  say  in  English,  "  Blessed  be  God  and 
the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  which  gives  a 
very  different  sense.  Such  also  must  have  been  the 
mind  of  Theodoret,  who  explains  the  text  thus :  "  He 
is  indeed  our  God,  but  he  is  the  Father  of  our  Lord." 
Indeed,  most  of  the  Germans  insist  upon  it  that  such 
is  the  meaning  of  the  passage.  Harless  thinks  if  both 
nouns  referred  to  the  genitive,  the  Greek  particle  (re) 
should  have  come  before  and  Father,  which  hypercrit- 
ical finesse  is  refuted  by  1  Pet.  ii.  25  and  other  similar 
passages.  But  why  all  this  labor  and  toil  to  avoid  the 
idea  that  the  Father  should  be  called  the  God  of  Christ? 
Why  not  say  with  Theophylact,  "  He  is  both  God  and 
Father  of  one  and  the  same  Christ — his  God  as  respects 
his  human  nature,  and  his  Father  in  reference  to  his 


CHAPTEK    I.    VERSES  1-6.  27 

divinity"?  Surely,  if  Jesus  Christ  be  really  a  wan, 
the  Father  may  be  called  his  God.  And  does  not  Paul 
explain  his  own  meaning  in  the  seventeenth  verse,  where 
he  distinctly  calls  the  Father  "  the  God  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ"?  and  does  not  Jesus  on  the  cross  cry, 
"  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?"  Is 
he  not  the  son  of  man,  and  as  such  a  creature  of  God? 
The  glory  of  redeeming  love  is  seen,  not  in  the  God- 
head, but  in  the  manhood,  of  Christ ;  he  might  have 
remained  for  ever  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  but  he 
preferred,  out  of  love,  to  assume  the  form  of  a  servant 
and  be  made  in  the  likeness  of  men  that  he  might  mag- 
nify the  law  which  we  had  broken  and  expiate  our  guilt 
on  the  cross.  Hence,  he  is  our  brother  and  kinsman, 
the  head  and  leader  of  the  glorious  army  of  the  mar- 
tyrs ;  and,  though  he  is  himself  truly  divine,  he  may 
surely,  as  the  incarnate  One,  call  the  Father  his  God. 
Leaving  now,  therefore,  these  rough  points  of  criticism, 
let  us  sum  up  the  substance  of  the  third  verse. 

First.  The  apostle  begins  with  blessing.  Three  times 
in  the  one  verse  does  he  use  the  same  word  :  God  is  the 
blessed  one  who  hath  blessed  us  with  all  spiritual  bless- 
irigs  in  heavenly  places.  Our  condition  as  fallen  creat- 
ures is  cu7'sed ;  the  vengeance  of  a  violated  law  is  sus- 
pended over  us;  and  the  original  malady,  sj^reading 
like  a  poison  through  all  the  members  of  our  race  and 
through  all  the  fountains  of  our  being,  hath  laid  us 
under  the  law  of  the  curse ;  so  that  death  must  feed 
upon  us,  and  sin  and  Satan  have  triumphed  over  us 
because  we  are  cursed.  He  that  created  alone  can  de- 
liver, and  hence  the  gospel  is  called  the  glorious  gospel 
of  the  blessed  God ;  and  the  effects  of  it  are  to  remove 
from  our  species,  and  from  the  earth  their  habitation,  the 


28  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

curse  which  a  broken  law  has  brought  u^^on  us.  The 
blessing  of  the  Creator  was  pronounced  over  us  at  the 
beginning  (Gen.  i.  28),  and  the  stability  of  the  new 
creation  stands  only  in  the  blessing  of  God  (1  Pet. 
i.  5).  How  beautiful  and  natural  is  this  word  of  the 
apostle,  "  Blessed  be  the  God  who  has  blessed  us " ! 
It  is  the  language  of  nature  as  well  as  of  grace.  He 
has  removed  the  curse,  and  we  will  glorify  his  name ; 
he  has  opened  the  gates  of  righteousness,  and  we  will 
praise  him  with  the  companies  of  the  blessed.  He  is 
the  ocean-source  from  which  all  blessings  flow,  and  the 
ocean-home  to  which  all  holy  and  blessed  creatures 
must  return  with  their  songs  of  gratitude  and  praise. 
He  is  the  blessed  God,  because  he  is  the  universal 
B lesser.  Blessi7ig  was  the  angel-song  in  Bethlehem, 
and  blessing  was  the  last  act  of  the  Saviour  as  he  as- 
cended to  the  skies.  The  blessing  of  God  pronounced 
upon  the  first  Adam  filled  the  old  creation  with  the 
products  of  nature,  and  the  blessing  of  God  in  the 
second  Adam  is  to  fill  the  new  creation  with  the  prod- 
ucts of  grace.  Jesus  and  his  Church  are  the  Adam 
and  Eve  of  a  new  world,  and  the  holy  command, 
more  obligatory  in  grace  than  in  nature,  is  still  upon 
them :  "  Be  fruitful  and  nmltiply,  and  replenish  the 
earth,  and  subdue  it." 

Second.  The  name  of  God  is  here  contrasted  with 
the  Old-Testament  name,  which  is  "  the  God  of  Abra- 
ham, the  God  of  Isaac  and  the  God  of  Jacob  " — a  name 
showing  out,  as  some  think,  by  way  of  type,  the  doc- 
trine of  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost  in  their  relations 
to  one  another  and  to  the  creation ;  but  in  this  name 
th(Te  is  no  paternity.  He  is  their  God,  and  they  are 
his  people — their  Creator,  King  and  Preserver,  whom 


CHAPTER   I.    VERSES  1-6.  29 

they  are  bound  to  worship  and  obey.  But  his  name  in 
relation  to  the  Gentile  Church  is  "  the  God  and  Father 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  He  is  our  Father  as  he 
was  their  God.  Moses  was  the  faithful  servant  over  a 
household  of  servants,  and  Christ  is  the  faithful  Son 
over  a  household  of  sons  (Heb.  iii.  5,  6) .  The  Sonship 
of  Christ  is  manifold,  and  in  every  case  the  basis  or 
foundation  of  ours.  He  is  the  eternal  Son,  begotten 
without  a  beginning,  in  whom  the  Father  before  all 
worlds  saw  his  own  glorious  image,  and  with  whom  he 
could  be  delighted  in  the  loneliness  of  eternity  before 
there  was  a  creation  to  be  blessed  or  a  fallen  race  to  be 
loved  and  redeemed.  Nor  is  this  eternal  generation 
a  barren  speculation.  It  is  this  which  dignifies  our 
families  by  showing  us  paternity  and  sonship  in  the 
divine  nature  itself;  it  is  this  which  dignifies  reason, 
speech,  love  and  all  the  moral  affections  by  showing 
that  they  exist  in  God  himself.  The  Unitarian  God 
could  exercise  no  moral  affections  before  creation.  He 
had  nothing  to  love.  He  is  dependent  on  his  creatures 
for  the  exercise  of  all  the  higher  and  nobler  attributes 
which  we  call  social  or  moral.  The  creation  of  such 
a  being,  if  he  created  at  all,  would  not  be  a  great  sys- 
tem with  variety  and  unity  infinitely  and  harmoniously 
blended,  but  a  system  of  simple  unity.  It  would  not 
be  a  harmony,  but  a  monotone,  or  at  best  a  melody. 
But  this  doctrine  of  Sonship  is  threefold.  Jesus  is  the 
Son  of  God  from  eternity,  and  this  is  the  basis  of  our 
election  in  him  before  the  worlds  to  the  dignity  of  sons 
(Eph.  i.  4-6).  He  is  the  Son  of  God  by  generation  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  (Luke  i.  35),  and  this  is  the  form  and 
fountain  of  our  regeneration  by  the  same  Holy  Spirit 
of  God.     He  is  the  Son  of  God  by  resurrection  (Ps.  ii. 


30  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

7  ;  comp.  Acts  xiii.  33),  the  first-born  from  the  dead 
and  the  beginning  of  the  creation  of  God  (Rev.  i.  5 ; 
1  Cor.  XV.  20;  CoL  i.  18),  and  this  is  the  basis  of  the 
first  resurrection,  which  is  blessed  and  holy  and  belongs 
only  to  the  children  of  God  (Luke  xx.  36).  Thus  our 
sonships  by  election,  by  regeneration  and  by  resurrec- 
tion find  their  antitypal  forms  in  the  development  of 
sonship  in  the  jierson  of  Christ.  The  Sonship  of 
Christ,  therefore,  is  no  abstract,  empty  dogma,  but  a 
great  comprehensive  verity  which  unfolds  wonderfully 
the  relations  and  love  of  the  Creator,  and  at  the  same 
time  gives  inexpressible  dignity  and  glory  to  the  re- 
deemed Church.  Oh,  most  sweet  and  blessed  chain  of 
love,  which  reaches  from  the  throne  of  God  to  the 
bleeding  cross — fro  n  the  Father  of  lights  to  the  poor 
children  of  men ! 

Third.  But  what  are  those  spiritual  blessings  with 
which  he  has  blessed  us?  These  are  the  gifts  and 
graces  and  manifold  operations  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
(Rom.  i.  11 ;  XV.  29 ;  2  Cor.  ix.  5  ;  Gal.  iii.  8,  9 ;  Acts 
iii.  16),  and  are  in  Christ  as  their  centre  and  descend 
to  us  from  the  heavenly  regions  or  abodes.  "  The 
heavenlies  "  may  indeed  refer  to  states,  blessings,  or 
anything  else,  as  well  as  to  places,  and  expositors  have 
been  divided  on  the  question  since  the  apostolic  age. 
Beza  thinks  we  should  give  no  decision  on  the  subject ; 
yet  I  feel  persuaded  that  the  idea  of  place  is  included 
in  the  Greek  form  of  exj^ression.  (See  Eph.  i.  20 ;  ii. 
6 ;  iii.  10 ;  vi.  12.)  John  iii.  12  seems  to  me  an  ex- 
ception, and  not  a  key,  to  the  other  passages.  These 
heavenly  abodes,  then,  are  the  mansions  which  Jesus 
has  gone  to  prepare  for  us  in  the  house  not  made  with 
liands,  eternal  in  the  heavens.    All  our  glories  are  con- 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES   1-6.  31 

centrated  there.  There  are  the  golden  harps,  the  crown.s 
of  righteousness  and  the  white  robes  which  are  the 
righteousness  of  saints.  The  j^ahns  of  victory  grow 
there,  and  endless  hallelujahs  to  God  and  to  the  Lamb 
resound  through  the  celestial  temple.  There,  too,  are 
the  heroes  of  the  faith  who  fought  and  conquered 
through  the  blood  of  the  Lamb — the  holy  apostles  and 
prophets  and  the  glorious  army  of  the  martyrs,  who 
loved  not  their  lives  unto  the  death.  Within  that  veil, 
in  the  holiest  of  all,  we  shall  contemplate  without  a 
cloud  the  person  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whom,  not 
having  seen,  we  loved,  and  through  him,  in  the  person 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  we  shall  enter  into  fellowship  with 
the  adorable  Jehovah,  ever  ap2)roximating,  and  yet  ever 
at  infinite  distances  from,  the  perfection  of  the  all- 
glorious  God. 

We  should  think  often  of  these  heavenly  mansions. 
Our  friends  are  there,  and  beckon  us  to  come;  our 
citizenship  is  there,  from  wlience  we  look  for  the  Sav- 
iour. This  is  the  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal 
in  the  heavens,  where  the  glory  of  the  Lord  shines 
forth  in  all  its  sj)lendor — the  New  Jerusalem  of  the 
Apocalypse,  where  the  holy  and  the  good  have  their 
dwelling-place  with  God  for  ever.  There,  too,  are  the 
fountains  of  life  and  the  rivers  of  pleasure  of  which 
the  Psalmist  sings  so  sweetly ;  there  is  the  rest  of  which 
the  godly  Baxter  discourses  so  pleasantly,  and  the 
heavenly  Zion  of  which  David  in  his  Psalms  and 
Bunyan  in  his  dreams  have  told  us  so  much.  There 
is  the  restored  paradise  which  Augustine  in  his  famous 
canticle  Felix  cceli  quce  prcesentem,  etc.,  describes  with 
such  magnificence. 

But  let  us  never  forget  that  all  the  glories  of  the  heav- 


32  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

enly  house,  and  all  the  blessings  that  flow  to  us  from  it, 
are  treasured  up  in  Christ.  He  is  the  fountain-head  of 
blessing  for  the  world  ;  and  through  him,  as  Mediator, 
they  are  dispensed  to  the  Church  and  to  the  world. 
Owing  to  him  we  have  a  right  to  these  blessings,  and 
through  his  mediation  we  are  brought  to  share  them. 
The  Greek  word  for  our  "  in  "  has,  therefore,  three  dif- 
ferent significations  in  this  one  verse — "  with,"  "  in," 
and  "  through."  He  has  blessed  us  with  all  spiritual 
blessings  m  heavenly  places  through  Jesus  Christ  the 
Redeemer.  The  Christ  is  always,  according  to  the 
doctrine  of  Paul,  the  centre  of  all  the  operations  of 
God.  By  him  the  works  of  creation,  providence  and 
redemption  have  been  accomplished  according  to  the 
will  of  the  Father,  and  for  him  (see  Col.  i.  16)  the 
universe  was  created ;  so  that  the  apostolic  formula  in 
Christ  reveals  to  us  the  great  doctrines  of  headship  and 
mediation.  In  him  the  great  purpose  of  Jehovah  to 
create  and  redeem  takes  its  root  and  finds  its  accom- 
j^lishment ;  so  that  he  is  called  the  Alpha  and  Omega, 
the  all-comprehending  Head  and  Mediator,  in  whom 
the  fullness  of  God  {pleroma)  is  manifested  to  the 
creation   (Col.  i.  10;  ii.  9;  John  i.  6). 

V.   Election. 

The  apostle  now  proceeds  to  enumerate  some  of  the 
spiritual  blessings  which  our  God  and  Father  has  re- 
served for  us  in  Christ: 

According  as  he  hath  chosen  ns  in  him  before  the 
foundation  of  the  ivorld,  that  we  should  be  holy  and 
without  blame  before  him  in  love  (ver.  4).  On  this 
note  the  following  observations : 

First.  The  elector  is  the  Father,  to  whom  it  belonsrs 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES   1-6.  33 

to  originate  all  things.  The  purpose  of  eternal  love 
flows  directly  from  the  divine  JMind  as  its  heavenly 
source.  He  hath  predestinated  us  to  be  conformed  to 
the  image  of  his  Son  (Rom.  viii.  29).  It  is  he  who 
has  chosen  us  from  the  beginning  to  salvation,  through 
sanctification  of  the  Spirit  and  belief  of  the  truth  (2 
Thess.  ii.  13)  ;  and  Peter  assures  us  that  we  who  be- 
lieve are  "  elect  according  to  the  foreknowledge  of  God 
the  Father,  through  sanctification  of  the  Spirit,  unto 
obedience  and  sprinkling  of  the  blood  of  Christ "  (1 
Pet.  i.  2).  It  is  therefore  clear  that  election  is  the 
peculiar  act  or  work  or  office  of  the  Father,  even  as 
sanctification  and  redemption  are  the  works  of  the 
Spirit  and  the  Son. 

Second.  The  person  in  whom  the  election  is  made  is 
the  So7i.  We  are  chosen  in  him  as  the  divine  Mediator 
and  predestinated  Election-Head,  in  whom,  by  means 
of  our  union  with  him,  we  find  a  supply  for  all  our 
wants,  strength  for  our  weakness,  joy  for  our  sorrow, 
light  for  our  darkness,  and  eternal  life  for  our  all- 
sufficient  portion  at  last.  The  little  words  in  him 
express  much  of  the  will  and  way  of  God  toward  us. 
In  Jesus  we  find  the  ground  or  cause  of  God's  electing 
and  redeeming ;  as  Beza  expresses  it :  "  Through  Christ 
and  Christ's  foreseen  merits  "  God  manifests  his  grace 
to  us ;  nor  does  the  text  give  the  least  hint  of  the  con- 
dition which  Chrysostom  supplies — viz.,  "  that  we  are 
elected  on  account  of  foreseen  faith  and  good  works." 
We  were  elected  in  him  because  he  is  our  Surety  and 
had  undertaken  to  redeem  us  by  the  sacrifice  of  the 
cross.  In  him  all  believers  are  included.  In  the 
divine  purpose  the  elect  and  the  Election-Head  are 
contemplated  as  one — one  vine,  one  temple,  one  family. 

5 


34  GRAHAM   ON    EPHESIANS. 

The  head  and  the  member^;,  the  vine  and  the  branches, 
the  bridegroom  and  the  bride,  the  foundation  and  the 
living  stones,  are  never  separated  in  the  purpose  of 
God,  forming,  as  they  do,  one  great  and  magnificent 
unity,  very  beautiful  and  glorious — perfect,  too,  when 
the  time  of  perfection  comes,  as  the  idea  and  purpose 
of  the  Father.  This  is  tke  Church.  Election  is  the 
basis  of  the  Church,  as  predestination  is  the  basis  of 
a  providence. 

Third.  As  to  the  date  of  this  election.  It  is  before 
the  foundation  of  the  world.  (Comp.  Matt.  xiii.  35  ; 
John  xvii.  4 ;  Luke  xi.  50 ;  Matt.  xxv.  34 ;  1  Pet.  i. 
20.)  This  is  the  same  as  the  expression  "  Before  the 
ages  or  worlds  "  (1  Cor.  ii.  7).  (Comp.  Eph.  iii.  9 ;  Col. 
i.  26 ;  2  Tim.  i.  9 ;  and  Rom.  xvi.  25.)  This  is  the 
ancient  love  of  God  to  his  people  of  which  the  Script- 
ures are  so  full,  and  on  which  the  believing  soul 
delights  to  dwell.  His  love  is  no  impulsive  feeling, 
varying  with  the  changes  of  the  creature,  but  the 
steady,  irreversible  purpose  of  his  grace,  based  on  the 
life  and  death,  the  doing  and  dying,  of  the  Mediator. 
We  measure  the  strength  of  an  affection  by  its  perma- 
nency, and  by  the  difficulties  which  it  surmounts  for 
the  sake  of  its  object.  This  ancient  affection  of  the 
Godhead  was  placed  upon  his  people  before  the  birth 
of  time ;  and  in  all  the  different  ages  and  dispensations, 
in  the  successive  dynasties  and  kingdoms,  in  all  the 
events  of  providence  as  well  as  in  the  promises  and 
covenants  of  grace,  we  see  the  gradual  unfolding  of 
that  hidden  love  of  his,  until,  in  the  person  of  the  incar- 
nate Redeemer,  the  difficulties  were  all  surmounted  and 
the  Father  almighty  and  his  prodigal  son  might  meet. 
This  is  the  love  which  the  soul  delights  to  contemplate 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES   1-6.  35 

— an  effective  love ;  a  love  that  does  not  shrink  back 
from  impediments ;  a  love  worthy  of  God  and  neces- 
sary for  the  safety  and  dignity  of  his  redeemed 
Church. 

Fourth.  The  purpose  of  this  election  is  very  clearly 
stated  in  one  passage :  "  That  we  should  be  holy  and 
without  blame  before  him  in  love^  Holy  means  "  sep- 
arated," "consecrated,"  "devoted"  to  God.  He  would 
have  a  loving,  devoted,  holy  people,  and  for  this  end 
he  elects  them.  They  are  chosen  that  they  should  be 
holy  and  without  blame  before  him  in  love.  His  pur- 
pose in  election  is  sanctification — that  they  should  be 
his  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word,  his  husbandry, 
his  building,  his  temple,  his  living  sacrifice,  his  fruit- 
bearing  vine.  They  live  a  devoted  life  which  the 
world  cannot  understand ;  they  are  separated  from  all 
other  men  in  their  hopes  for  the  future  life,  and  in 
their  conduct  toward  God  in  this.  Without  blame 
means  "spotless"  (Heb.  ix.  14),  and  is  applied  to  the 
Saviour  himself  as  the  spotless,  perfect,  sacrificial 
Lamb  (1  Pet.  i.  19).  (See  Lev.  i.  10;  xxii.  19-23; 
Eph.  V.  27  ;  Col.  i.  22 ;  Jude  24  ;  Kev.  xiv.  5.)  Such 
would  be  the  character  and  life  of  the  chosen  people 
of  God,  and  in  so  far  as  they  come  short  of  this  they 
are  destroying  their  own  happiness  and  withholding 
from  God  the  projDcr  returns  of  his  love. 

Election  is  not  an  arbitrary,  indiscriminating  act  of 
God  in  order  simply  to  secure  the  final  salvation  of  so 
many  and  no  more.  No!  it  is  rather  the  sweet  and 
loving  purpose  to  prevent  the  ruin  of  all,  and  to  secure 
by  his  own  efficacious  grace  the  means  of  saving  any — 
viz.,  the  faith  which  works  by  love  and  purifies  the 
heart.     By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them.     The  elect 


36  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

of  God  are  the  holy  and  blameless  ones,  of  whom  the 
world  is  not  worthy.  Look  not  for  the  proofs  of  your 
election  to  the  hidden  counsels  of  God,  but  to  your 
own  visible  life  and  conversation. 

There  is  much  meaning  also  in  the  phrase  ''Before 
him  in  love''  It  is  as  much  as  to  say,  This  holy  and 
blameless  life  is  no  fancy  picture,  but  a  reality,  and 
such  a  reality  as  can  stand  before  him.  If  you  wish 
to  fulfill  the  requirements  of  this  verse  as  one  of  the 
elect  of  God,  your  walk  must  be  holy  and  blameless. 
This  is  the  high  end  of  your  election,  and  they  are 
deceivers  and  hypocrites  who  dare  to  speak  of  God's 
electing  love  while  they  are  caught  and  captivated 
by  the  entanglements  of  the  flesh  and  the  world. 
Holiness  is  the  end  of  election,  while  happiness,  peace 
of  conscience,  and  final  glory  itself,  are  subordinate 
and  subsidiary  blessings.  The  holiness  of  the  Church 
is  the  earthly  glory  of  God,  and  she  glorifies  him  as 
much  in  her  struggles  and  triumphs  here  as  in  her 
songs  and  hallelujahs  above. 

VI.  Adoption. 

Having  predestinated  us  unto  the  adoption  of  children 
by  Jesus  Christ  to  himself,  according  to  the  good  pleasure 
of  his  will,  to  the  praise  of  the  glory  of  his  grace, 
wherein  he  hath  made  us  accepted  in  the  Beloved  (ver. 

I  have  followed  the  common  punctuation  in  the 
fourth  verse  because  the  sense  is  good  and  we  are 
accustomed  to  the  phrase  "  holy  and  without  blame 
before  him  in  love."  It  is  not  to  be  denied,  however, 
that  the  weight  of  authorities  and  the  natural  con- 
struction seem  in  favor  of  connecting  in  love  with  the 


CHAPTER   I.    VERSES  1-6.  37 

lifth  verse,  thus :  "  Having  predestinated  us  in  love 
to  the  adoption  of  children,"  etc.  This  construction 
is  strengthened  by  Eph.  iii.  17,  where,  in  the  Greek, 
in  love  precedes  the  participle.  If  any  one  wishes 
to  see  this  point  formally  argued,  he  should  consult 
Stier.  I  deem  the  decision  of  little  importance,  and, 
therefore,  proceed  with  the  exposition. 

First.  Wherein  does  the  predestination  of  the  fifth 
verse  differ  from  the  election  of  the  fourth?  " Election " 
only,  and  always,  refers  to  the  Church;  "predestination" 
refers  to  the  Church  and  the  world  and  the  whole  uni- 
verse. It  is  a  general,  all-embracing  principle.  He 
elected  us  that  we  should  be  holy,  and  to  accomplish 
this  he  predestined  us  to  the  adoption  of  sons.  Elec- 
tion is  a  mere  passive  preference  of  some  rather  than 
others,  while  predestination  is  active,  and  includes  the 
ideas  of  ordering,  defining  and  controlling  all  things 
according  to  a  settled  purpose  or  plan.  Election  is  the 
foundation  of  a  Church,  and  predestination  is  the  basis 
of  providence.  Election  implies  choice,  predestination 
does  not.  The  Church  is  both  predestinated  and 
elected,  but  there  are  many  things  ordained  when 
there  is  no  election  (Acts  iv.  28).  In  the  Church, 
Jehovah  is  manifested  as  the  God  of  electing  grace  and 
love ;  while  in  all  history  and  providence,  among  the 
nations  of  the  earth  and  in  the  different  provinces  of 
creation,  he  is  ever  present  as  the  presiding,  overruling 
and  predestinating  God.  Prophecy  and  promise  have 
mainly  to  do  with  the  Church  and  the  Church's  Head ; 
and  without  a  controlling,  predestinating  Deity  the 
fulfillment  of  the  prophecies  and  the  promises  is  nei- 
ther possible  nor  conceivable. 

Second.  But  what  is  this  adoption  to  which  we  are 


Sg  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

predestinated?  It  is  the  very  first  of  the  privileges 
which  Paul  ascribes  to  the  Jewish  nation :  "  To  whom 
pertaineth  the  adoption,  and  the  glory,  and  the  cov- 
enants, and  the  giving  of  the  law  and  the  promises; 
whose  are  the  fathers,  and  of  whom  as  concerning  the 
flesh  Christ  came,  who  is  over  all,  God  blessed  for  ever  " 
(Rom.  ix.  4,  5).  In  a  wide  sense,  the  Jews  were 
nationally  the  children  of  God,  and  the  principle  of 
adoption  was  in  their  polity,  for  the  Son  of  God,  the 
Messiah,  was  the  hope  of  the  nation.  Th^y  were  God's 
peculiar  people  (Deut.  xiv.  2),  in  whom  the  seeds  of 
righteousness  were  sown  which  afterward  were  to  fruc- 
tify  and  fill  the  face  of  the  world  with  fruit.  But  the 
adoption  is  the  peculiar  privilege  and  glory  of  the  New- 
Testament  Church,  in  which  the  incorruptible  seed 
remains,  because  they  are  born  of  God.  They  have 
all  become  the  children  of  God  by  faith  in  Christ 
Jesus  (Gal.  iii.  26) ;  they  are  born,  not  of  blood,  nor 
of  the  will  of  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of 
God  (John  i.  13) ;  by  the  baptism  of  water  and  the 
baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost  they  are  made  partakers 
of  the  visible  and  invisible  family  of  God — the  king- 
dom of  grace  and  the  kingdom  of  glory.  In  the  act 
of  believing  they  become  members  of  the  household 
of  faith  and  heirs  according  to  the  promises.  God 
stands  to  them  in  the  relation  of  a  father ;  the  law 
threatens  them  no  more,  for  their  Surety  has  borne 
its  penalty;  the  Spirit  that  crieth  "Abba,  Father," 
in  their  hearts  has  sealed  them  unto  the  day  of  re- 
demption (Rom.  viii.  15,  2o ;  Gal.  iv.  5) ;  and  they 
are  enabled  with  a  well-grounded  confidence  to  anti- 
cipate the  heavenly  inheritance. 

Third.  This  adoption  into  the  family  of  God  is  by 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES   1-6.  39 

or  through  Jesus  Christ.  The  Son  is  the  medium  of 
our  becoming  sons  ;  nor  is  there  any  regeneration  save 
through  the  Spirit  which  he  gives.  The  work  of  Christ 
in  our  nature,  his  active  and  passive  obedience — or,  as 
the  old  divines  expressed  it,  his  doing  and  his  dying — 
are  the  legal  and  formal  grounds  on  which  the  Father- 
proceeds  in  admitting  members  into  his  family  and  dis- 
pensing the  spirit  of  adoption.  Under  the  covert  of 
mediation  has  the  kingdom  of  grace  been  administered 
from  the  beginning,  and  the  one  Mediator  is  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  the  Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of 
the  world.  God  has  ordained  us  to  the  adoption  of 
children  through  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  this  special  act 
we  see  the  principle  according  to  which  the  whole  king- 
dom of  grace  is  administered.  Through  him,  God  and 
man  are  brought  together.  He  is  the  God-Man  and 
the  Man-God.  On  earth  we  behold  him  as  God  man- 
ifested in  the  flesh,  doing  the  works  and  speaking  the 
words  and  manifesting  the  character  of  God.  To  see 
him  was  to  see  the  Father  (John  xiv.  9),  and  in  him 
was  the  great  Father's  heart  opened  to  mankind.  He 
was,  in  one  word,  Emmanuel,  Ood  with  us  (Matt.  i.  23). 
We  follow  him  from  Olivet  to  the  heavens,  and  we  see 
him  there  in  a  new  and  quite  different  character.  He  is 
now  the  Man-God,  Man  with  God,  glorified  and  on  the 
throne  of  universal  dominion.  He  is  the  glorified  head 
of  the  redeemed  race,  the  forerunner  and  model  man  to 
whose  likeness  all  the  rest  are  to  be  conformed — the 
first-fruits  of  them  that  slept,  and  the  specimen  to  the 
angels  and  the  universe  of  what  manhood  is  predesti- 
nated to  be.  The  angels  behold  humanity  in  the  form 
of  God  as  we  beheld  Godhead  in  the  form  of  a  servant 
(Phil.  ii.  6,  7) ;  and  this  wonderful  double  relationship 


iO  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

is  expressed  by  the  word  "  through,"  which  refers,  as 
all  mediation  must  do,  to  both  sides  or  parties.  God 
reaches  us  through  Christ,  and  through  Christ  we  have 
access  to  God ;  the  power,  glory,  majesty  and  love  of 
God  enter  into  him  in  the  measure  of  Godhead,  and 
reach  us  tempered  and  softened  into  the  measures  of 
manhood,  such  as  we  are  able  to  receive.  On  the  other 
hand,  our  prayers  and  supplications  are  by  the  interces- 
sion of  Christ  glorified  into  a  divine  incense  worthy 
of  the  acceptance  of  the  Deity. 

Fourth.  The  two  words  unto  himself  \\2iNe  occasioned 
the  commentators  some  trouble,  and  their  sentiments 
are  very  various.  But  surely,  looked  at  simply,  the 
most  common  understanding  can  see  no  difficulty  in 
this  idea :  "  God  has  predestinated  us  unto  the  adop- 
tion of  children  to  or  for  himself."  Is  it  not  a  script- 
ural idea  that  the  Church  is  the  peculiar  treasure  and 
property  of  God — that  he  has  taken  it  from  among 
the  nations,  redeemed  it  for  himself,  and  preserves 
it  as  his  own  purchased  possession  for  ever?  (See 
Ex.  xix.  0 ;  Deut.  xiv.  2 ;  Ps.  cxxxv.  4 ;  Tit.  ii.  14.) 
I  believe  the  accusative  with  the  preposition  is  precise- 
ly the  same  in  meaning  as  the  dative  of  advantage  or 
disadvantage.  This  grammatical  principle  is  proved  in 
the  following  passages:  Matt.  v.  13;  John  vi.  9;  Acts 
ii.  22 ;  Rom.  xi.  36 ;  1  Cor.  viii.  6  (here  the  words  to 
us  are  the  dative,  and  the  following  to  him  the  accusa- 
tive with  the  preposition) ;  Rom.  xv.  26  ;  xvi.  6  ;  2  Cor. 
viii.  6;  Gal.  iv.  11 ;  Eph.  iii.  2.  God,  therefore,  ha.s 
dignified  and  honored  the  Church  exceedingly  by  the 
two  little  words  for  himself,  for  he  thereby  claims  her 
as  his  own  peculiar  treasure,  elected,  redeemed  and  en- 
dowed with  the  giftii  of  the  Spirit  for  the  express  pur- 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES  1-6.  41 

pose  of  showing  forth  his  glory.  His  name  is  upon 
her ;  his  spirit  is  within  her ;  and  her  ceaseless  task  is 
to  show  forth  his  praise.  Nor  do  I  know  a  more 
healthy  state  of  mind  than  that  in  which  we  feel  our- 
selves to  be  his  and  not  our  own,  bought  with  the  price 
of  his  precious  blood,  and  therefore  bound  to  glorify 
God  in  our  bodies  and  spirits,  which  are  his. 

Fifth.  Note  here,  also,  that  this  predestination  and 
adoption  are  according  to  the  good  pleasure  of  his  will. 
This  is  the  mode  and  the  measure  of  his  working.  The 
creature  is  not  reckoned  in  the  administration  of  his 
gifts ;  his  own  bounty  and  grace,  not  our  wishes,  deter- 
mine the  outflowing  of  his  beneficence.  We  can  find 
no  higher,  nobler  origin  for  'redemption  than  the  good 
pleasure  of  God.  It  was  his  will  to  spare,  and  he 
spared  us ;  it  is  his  good  pleasure  to  give  the  kingdom 
to  his  little  flock,  and  they  shall  get  it  (Luke  xii.  32). 
(Comp.  1  Cor.  i.  21 ;  Col.  i.  20.)  This  is  the  self- 
limiting  and  self-determining  will  of  God,  called  here 
his  good  pleasure,  according  to  which  all  his  purposes 
are  formed  and  executed.  Bengel  says  :  "  Beyond  this 
good  pleasure  of  God  we  are  not  to  inquire  either  in  the 
works  of  creation  or  our  own  salvation ;"  nor  has  Gro- 
tius  any  exegetical  right  to  give  the  text  this  turn : 
"God  will  execute  his  decrees  if  men  do  what  they 
ought."  More  scriptural  are  the  words  of  St.  Jerome  : 
''  This  is  his  divine  decree,  that  those  who  believe 
might  have  power  to  become  the  sons  of  God."  Here, 
as  in  all  Holy  Scripture,  Jehovah  is  all  and  in  all.  All 
that  papists  and  others  have  taught  about  human  merit 
and  supererogation  and  perfect  holiness  in  flesh  before 
the  resurrection  is  false  and  unscriptural ;  nor  can  such 
doctors  have  any  very  deep  views  of  either  the  holiness 


42  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

of  God  or  the  sinfulness  of  man.  Oh  no !  When  we 
see  even  our  best  actions  in  the  light  of  the  love  and 
holiness  of  God,  we  cry  out  involuntarily,  with  the 
good  old  monk  Celanus, 

"  Rex  tremendae  majestatis, 
Qui  salvandos  salvas  gratis 
Salva  me,  foiis  pietatis !"  * 

Sixth.  We  see  here  the  purpose  in  which  all  his 
working,  before  time  and  in  time,  ends — "  that  we 
might  be  to  the  praise  of  the  glory  of  his  grace,  where- 
in he  hath  made  us  accepted  in  the  Beloved  "  (ver.  6). 
The  phrase  glory  of  his  grace  is  a  Hebraism  which 
our  translators  have  rendered  literally,  but  which 
means  "his  glorious  grace."  (For  similar  forms,  see 
Col.  i.  27  ;  2  Thess.  i,  9.)  The  purpose  of  electing  and 
redeeming  love  is  to  form  from  among  the  sinners  of 
mankind  a  people  to  the  praise  and  glory  of  God. 
Christ  hath  received  us  (Rom.  xv.  7),  and  therefore 
with  one  mouth  let  us  glorify  God,  even  the  Father  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  all  the  promises  are  in  him 
yea  and  amen,  unto  the  glory  of  God  by  us  (2  Cor.  i. 
20).  The  glorious  grace  of  God  shines  forth  in  the 
struggling,  wrestling  Church  more  than  anywhere  else 
in  the  creation ;  for  it  is  there  put  to  the  severest  tests, 
and,  like  the  rainbow  in  clouds  and  storms,  it  is  en- 
hanced by  the  contrast.  As  sure  and  so  far  as  God  is 
the  Ruler  and  the  Governor  of  the  world,  the  great  end 
of  every  creature  must  be  his  glory ;  and,  as  grace  is 
the  form  in  which  his  glory  has  shone  forth  most 
brightly  on  this  earth,  the  highest  aim  of  the  redeemed 

*  "  King  of  tremendous  majesty, 

Who  savest  gratis  those  who  are  to  be  saved, 
Save  me,  thou  Fount  of  piety  !" 


CHAPTEK    I.    VERSES   1-6.  43 

creature  in  all  states  and  conditions  of  being  should 
ever  be  "  to  the  praise  of  his  glorious  grace."  We  are 
to  shine,  but  the  light  is  from  him ;  and  all  the  fruits 
of  the  tree  of  life  are  produced  by  his  good  Spirit  (Gal. 
V.  22).  It  is  always  and  everywhere  grace,  and  nothing 
but  free  grace,  in  our  pilgrimage  to  the  heavenly  city — 
grace  in  Egypt  to  break  our  chains,  grace  in  the  wilder- 
ness to  give  us  manna  from  the  skies  and  water  from 
the  rock,  and  grace  brightening  into  glory  as  we  pass 
over  the  Jordan  into  the  Promised  Land.  Be  ours, 
then,  the  noble  office  to  show  forth  the  praises  of  Him 
who  hath  called  us  out  of  darkness  into  his  marvelous 
light — to  let  our  light  so  shine  before  men  that  others, 
seeing  our  good  works,  may  glorify  our  Father  which  is 
in  heaven. 

This  charis — "grace" — is  the  deep  ocean  in  the  heart 
of  God  from  which  all  promises  and  covenants  of  mercy 
proceed ;  from  which  the  divine  Redeemer  himself  pro- 
ceeded (John  iii.  16)  when  he  came  forth  to  bless  us ; 
and  from  which  must  j)roceed,  both  in  eternity  and  in 
time,  everything  whereby  the  fallen  creation  is  glorified 
and  blest. 

The  apostle  adds :  ^^It  is  by  this  grace,  too,  he  hath 
made  us  accepted  in  the  Beloved^  Jesus,  the  beloved 
Son  of  God,  is  also  the  Beloved  of  our  souls ;  yea,  he 
is  the  chief  among  ten  thousand  and  altogether  lovely. 
The  purpose  of  the  Father's  love  takes  effect  in  him. 
In  the  Beloved  shows  the  circle  in  which  grace  works, 
and  is,  at  the  same  time,  the  true  characteristic  of  the 
accepted  ones.  They  are  beloved  in  the  Beloved, 
anointed  in  the  Christ,  built  upon  him  as  the  founda- 
tion-stone and  crucified  with  him  when  he  died,  hi 
hi7n  shows  the  bond  of  union  which  unites  them  to  one 


44  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

another  by  uniting  them  to  the  living  Head  from  whose 
love  neither  death  nor  life,  nor  things  present,  nor  things 
to  come,  shall  ever  be  able  to  separate  them  (Kom.  viii. 
38,  39).  They  possess  the  residue  of  the  Spirit,  because 
they  are  in  him  ;  they  are  justified,  sanctified  and  shall 
be  eternally  glorified,  because  they  are  in  him.  They 
have  power  over  the  flesh  to  crucify  it,  over  the  world 
to  despise  it,  over  Satan  to  resist  and  conquer  him,  be- 
cause they  are  accepted  in  the  Beloved.  Sin  has  lost 
its  power  over  them,  the  law  of  God  does  not  threaten 
them,  the  worm  of  conscience  does  not  sting  them  any 
more,  but  love  eternal  draws  them  upward  toward 
heaven,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  seals  them  unto  the  day 
of  redemption,  and  they  shall  never  perish,  nor  shall 
any  pluck  them  out  of  the  Father's  hand ;  for  he  has 
made  them  accepted  in  the  Beloved. 


CHAPTER   II. 

In  whom  we  have  redemption  through  his  blood,  the  forgiveness  of 
sins,  according  to  the  riches  of  his  grace ;  wherein  he  hath  abounded 
toward  us  in  all  wisdom  and  prudence ;  having  made  known  unto  us  the 
mystery  of  his  will,  according  to  his  good  pleasure  which  he  hath  pur- 
posed in  himself:  that  in  the  dispensation  of  the  fullness  of  times  he 
might  gather  together  in  one  all  things  in  Christ,  both  which  are  in 
heaven,  and  which  are  on  earth ;  even  in  him :  in  whom  also  we  have 
obtained  an  inheritance,  being  predestinated  according  to  the  purpose 
of  him  who  worketh  all  things  after  the  counsel  of  his  own  will :  that 
we  should  be  to  the  praise  of  his  glory,  who  first  trusted  in  Christ.  In 
whom  ye  also  trusted,  after  that  ye  heard  the  word  of  truth,  the  gospel 
of  your  salvation  ;  in  whom  also  after  that  ye  believed,  ye  were  sealed 
with  that  Holy  Spirit  of  promise,  which  is  the  earnest  of  our  inheritance 
until  the  redemption  of  the  purchased  possession,  unto  the  praise  of 
his  glory. — Ephesians  i.  7-14. 

The  apostle  now  proceeds  to  a  new  and  equally 
glorious  theme.  He  has  told  us  of  the  Church  and 
the  eternal  grace  and  love  which  have  been  manifested 
to  her  and  to  all  men  in  these  last  times ;  of  the  names 
and  relations  of  the  Father  and  the  Son,  both  to  each 
other  and  to  us ;  so  that  the  sinner  may  have  confidence 
in  the  power  and  the  love  of  an  all- ruling  yet  sin- 
pardoning  God.  He  has  told  us  of  the  election  of  the 
Father  as  the  fountain  of  divine  mercy,  of  the  adoption 
and  high  destinies  of  the  family  of  (iod ;  and  he  now 
opens  a  new  page  in  the  book  of  life  by  bringing 
prominently  before  us,  in  the  seventh  verse, 

46 


46  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

I.    The  Doctrine  of  Redemption. 

In  whom  we  have  redemption  through  his  blood,  the 
forgiveness  of  sins,  according  to  the  riches  of  his  grace. 

First.  The  first  great  idea  of  the  text  is  contained 
in  the  words  in  whom — namely,  in  the  Beloved — where- 
by we  learn  that  the  person  of  Christ  is  the  only  and 
everlasting  source  of  human  salvation.  There  is  noth- 
ing ideal,  nothing  shadowy  or  mythical,  in  the  revela- 
tions contained  in  the  New  Testament.  A  personal 
God  created  and  rules  the  world  ;  a  personal,  voluntary, 
self-emptying  Redeemer  (Phil.  ii.  7)  is  presented  to 
our  faith  and  hope  in  every  page ;  and  the  indwelling 
Spirit  pervades  the  new  creature  with  the  fullness 
and  blessedness  of  a  divine  personal  presence.  We 
are  not  shadows,  and  shadows  cannot  satisfy  us. 
We  are  persons — viz.,  spirits  now  dwelling  in  flesh 
and  blood,  with  the  painful  and  lacerating  convictions 
which  attach  to  rebels  against  the  majesty  of  Heaven. 
Nor  is  it  possible — such  is  our  nature — that  the  soul 
of  man,  struggling  and  wrestling  with  its  evil  con- 
ditions, but  still  conscious  of  its  work  and  destiny, 
should  ever  find  rest  and  satisfaction  save  in  the  fel- 
lowship and  fullness  of  a  personal  God. 

Sin  is  no  trifle,  as  we  may  see  from  the  ruins  it  has 
wrought.  Death  is  a  sad  and  terrible  reality  before 
which  we  tremble  exceedingly,  and  which,  like  a  cleav- 
ing curse,  follows  us  everywhere  and  turns  the  beautiful 
world  into  a  field  of  blood.  Satan,  the  head  of  the 
fallen,  and  the  first  mover  of  sedition,  loses  nothing  of 
his  power  and  malignity  as  he  gains  more  cunning  from 
experience.  He  is  still  the  roaring  lion,  seeking  whom 
he  may  devour  (1  Pet.  v.  8).     Such  being  the  state  of 


CHAPTER    I.     VERSES  7-14.  47 

things,  it  becomes  instantly  manifest  that  deliverance 
can  never  be  obtained  by  doctrines  or  systems  of  doc- 
trines, however  holy  and  true  they  may  be.  No, 
never !  The  law  of  the  Eternal  is  broken,  and  power 
almighty  holds  us  in  chains.  God  the  immutable  is 
not  a  man  that  he  should  lie,  but  the  righteous  ruler 
of  a  universe  in  which  the  universal  law  is  obedience. 
It  is  not  a  new  doctrine  which  we  need,  but  a  new  work 
— a  work  which  can  in  some  way  consistently  with  the 
character  of  God  avert  the  punishment  which  threatens 
us,  fortify  with  fresh  sanctions  the  law  which  we  had 
broken,  and,  reconciling  justice  with  mercy,  open  up 
the  fountains  of  grace  to  mankind.  All  this  we  have 
in  the  Beloved.  In  his  person  we  have  all  that  the 
heart  can  desire.  Pie  has  indeed  revealed  to  us  much 
of  the  nature  and  character  of  the  Father,  but  not  so 
much  in  the  way  of  teaching  as  in  his  life.  "  He  that 
hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father ;"  and  most  cer- 
tainly the  main  object  of  the  Son  of  God,  in  the  flesh, 
was  not  to  teach,  but  to  do,  and  to  die  as  the  law-fulfill- 
ing righteousness  and  sin-atoning  propitiation  for  his 
people.  His  doctrines  drew  their  importance  from  his 
work,  and  his  work  from  the  dignity  of  his  person. 
Abstract  notions  are  not  faith.  Our  minds  may  be 
filled  with  true  and  beautiful  systems  of  theology,  while 
yet  the  divine  fire  of  faith  has  never  been  kindled,  and 
the  reason  is  that  the  person  of  the  Redeemer  is  not  the 
centre  of  our  religion.  Not  in  doctrines,  but  in  the 
Beloved,  does  the  soul  find  its  rest  and  home ;  not  in 
the  crucifixion  of  Christ  do  we  glory,  but  in  Christ 
Jesus  and  him  crucified ;  not  in  the  creeds  of  the  first 
ages,  or  of  all  ages,  do  we  find  the  object  of  faith,  but 
in  the  incarnate  Redeemer  himself,  to  whom  all  creeds 


48  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

and  all  ages  and  all  Scripture  bear  witness,  without 
whose  living  personal  presence  all  formularies  and  the- 
ologies are  but  empty  nomenclature — beautiful,  it  may 
be,  but  useless  as  the  casket  when  the  jewel  is  gone  or 
as  the  temple  when  the  god  of  the  temple  is  no  longer 
there.  This,  then,  is  the  idea  with  which  the  apostle 
commences  our  passage.  The  Beloved  of  our  souls  is 
presented  to  our  faith  as  the  Fount  from  which  mercy 
flows,  the  Treasury  of  the  Father's  fullness  to  tlie 
creation,  and  the  life-giving  Head  of  the  Church. 

Second.  The  next  truth  contained  in  our  text  is  in 
the  words  we  have.  It  is  not  we  "  may  have  "  or  we 
"  shall  have,"  but  tve  have — that  is,  we  do  really  possess 
the  blessings  mentioned  in  the  text.  In  him  connects 
the  person  of  the  Redeemer  with  the  original  purpose 
of  Jehovah  in  election,  and  we  have  connects  all 
believers  with  him  as  the  recipients  of  his  manifold 
fullness,  and  we  shall  see  afterward  that  the  economy 
of  the  future  ages  (ver.  10)  is  to  be  headed  up  in  him 
also ;  so  that  all  things  that  pertain  to  the  Church  or 
the  creation,  the  past,  the  present  and  the  future,  with 
all  their  varieties  and  infirmities,  are  harmonized  in 
him — are  summed  up  and  recapitulated  in  Jesus  Christ 
the  Beloved.  But,  setting  aside  for  a  moment  the  two 
extremes — the  past  and  the  future — let  us  attend  to  the 
vinculum  which  unites  them :  we  have.  Luther  uttered 
a  strong  truth  in  these  words :  "  Wer  Christum  hat,  der 
hat  alles  ;  wer  Christum  nicht  hat,  der  hat  gar  nichts  " 
("  He  that  has  Christ  has  all  tilings,  and  he  that  has 
not  Christ  has  nothing").  This  witness  is  true.  Faith 
in  the  Lord  Jesus  makes  us  partakers  of  his  merits ;  so 
that,  being  united  to  him  in  love,  washed  from  sin  in 
his  blood  and  arrayed  in  the  robe  of  his  righteousness, 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES  7-14.  49 

we  can  say,  not  in  presumption,  but  in  lowliest  humil- 
ity, "  Christ  is  ours  ;"  we  have  redemption  through  his 
blood — the  forgiveness  of  sins ;  we  are  one  with  him, 
and  neither  death  nor  life  shall  separate  us  from  his 
love. 

Third.  But  what  is  this  redemption  f  How  does 
the  Scripture  speak  of  it?  What  blessings  does  it 
confer  on  the  believer  ?  "  Redemption  "  signifies  the 
"  buying  back  of  slaves,"  and  necessarily  presupposes 
the  condition  of  bondage  (Rom.  i.  28 ;  Eph.  ii.  3-5) . 
These  texts  show  us  very  clearly  that  the  wrath  of  God 
rests  uj^on  the  transgressor,  and  that  his  law  demands 
punishment.  Nor  was  this  all.  The  ruler  and  god 
of  this  world  had  brought  us  under  his  dominion  (Acts 
xxvi.  18;  Eph.  iv.  18;  2  Cor.  vi.  14).  This  is  the 
condition  of  the  sinner.  He  is  alienated  from  the  life 
of  God  by  reason  of  the  ignorance  that  is  in  him,  nor 
can  any  efforts  of  his  own  remove  the  burdens  of  the 
€urse.  The  world  before  the  Flood  groaned  under  the 
load  till  God  and  the  earth  could  bear  it  no  longer,  and 
the  flood  came  and  swept  them  all  away.  Nor  did  the 
awful  warning  work  any  effectual  cure,  for  the  waters 
were  hardly  subsided  when,  from  the  fathers  of  the 
new  world,  the  corrupting  plague  broke  forth  again  in 
streams  deep  and  black  as  hell.  The  nations  l)ecame 
corrupt,  and  even  the  separated  people  to  whom  the 
Lord  revealed  his  wonders,  and  upon  whom  he  has 
showered  so  many  blessings,  became  apostate;  so  that 
when  Jesus  came  among  them,  Jerusalem,  the  city  of 
God,  had  become  a  synagogue  of  Satan. 

Such  was  our  race,  and  hence  the  necessity  of  re- 
demption. If  there  be  a  holy  God  in  heaven,  it  was 
impossible  that  he   could  delight  in  such  a  world  as 


50  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

ours.  Nor  was  it  merely  the  effects  of  our  own  doings 
which  impeded  every  free  movement  and  entangled  us 
more  and  more  at  every  step ;  there  was  also  that  for- 
eign bondage,  referred  to  already,  which  made  it  neces- 
sary that  the  Son  of  God  should  be  manifested  in  the 
flesh,  that  he  might  destroy  the  works  of  the  devil 
(1  John  iii.  8;  Heb.  ii.  14;  John  xvi.  11).  Sin  was 
our  bondage,  and  Satan  the  slaveholder,  who,  knowing 
well  that  we  had  sinned,  thought  we  were  his  for  ever, 
saying  in  his  heart,  "  They  have  sinned,  and  they  are 
mine ;  for  the  law  of  the  unchangeable  God  is  against 
them,  and  the  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall  die."  Thus 
Satan,  strengthening  himself  in  the  holiness  of  God 
and  the  unchangeability  of  his  law,  thought  that  the 
kingdom  of  darkness  would  be  perpetual  and  univer- 
sal ;  for  he  knew  not  the  counsels  of  God  nor  the  depth 
of  divine  compassion.  He  dreamed  not  that  the  law 
could  be  vindicated  and  the  holiness  of  God  doubly 
honored,  and  at  the  same  time  mercy  in  richest  munif- 
icence proclaimed  to  the  sinner.  He  knew  not  that  it 
was  the  purpose  of  God  from  the  beginning  to  thwart 
all  his  malignant  devices ;  so  that  darkness  should  make 
way  for  the  light  of  life,  sin  for  holiness,  the  serpent 
for  the  Serpent-bruiser,  and  out  of  death  itself,  the 
master-work  of  Satan,  there  was  to  arise  a  kingdom 
of  life  and  immortality.  Now,  the  way  in  which  a 
divine  purpose  is  accomplished  is  not  by  a  violation 
of  duty  or  a  stroke  of  the  thunderbolt,  but  in  the  way 
of  moral  fitness  and  progressive  development ;  so  that 
righteousness  might  be  seen  voluntarily  abandoning 
corruption  and  triumphing  over  it,  love  conquering 
hatred,  and  God  glorified  in  the  hearty  obedience  of 
a  willing  people. 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES  7-14.  51 

Here  comes  in  the  action  of  our  text.  The  seed 
sown  in  Paradise  begins  to  ripen  ;  the  hope  which  ani- 
mated the  Jewish  nation,  and  through  them  was  in  part 
disseminated  among  the  Gentiles,  begins  to  brighten 
more  and  more.  The  line  has  been  defined,  the  tribe 
and  the  family  distinctly  named,  the  character  of  the 
coming  Deliverer,  and  his  very  name,  announced.  His 
birthplace  is  to  be  Bethlehem;  a  virgin  is  to  be  his 
mother ;  the  time  approaches  ;  old  Simeon  shall  live  to 
see  him ;  and  now  he  is  come — the  babe  in  the  manger, 
the  promised  Deliverer  in  whom  the  j^urpose  of  love 
is  to  attain  its  full  and  final  development.  This,  says 
Paul,  is  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  in  whom  we  have 
redemption  through  his  blood.  His  blood  is  the  ran- 
som which  he  pays  for  us  (1  Cor.  vi.  20  ;  vii.  23  ;  Matt. 
XX.  28 ;  Mark  x.  45 ;  1  Tim.  ii.  6 ;  Tit.  ii.  14),  that  the 
claims  of  the  law  may  be  satisfied  and  the  power  of  the 
slaveholder  broken.  Hence  the  apostle  adds  the  expos- 
itory words  "the  forgiveness  of  sins."  The  apostle 
teaches  the  same  doctrine  in  more  general  terms  when 
he  says,  "  Without  shedding  of  blood  there  is  no  remis- 
sion of  sins"  (Heb.  ix.  22).  The  first  blessing,  there- 
fore, connected  with  redemption  is  the  forgiveness  of 
our  sins.  This  is,  indeed,  what  we  most  needed,  and 
it  is  the  gift  which  glorifies  God  most  of  all.  He  does 
not  appear  so  glorious  on  the  throne  of  creation  as  on 
the  throne  of  grace.  Nothing  but  forgiveness  can  still 
our  inquietudes  or  make  us  look  with  tranquillity  to  the 
judgment-day.  Here,  then,  is  the  fountain  opened  in 
the  house  of  David  for  sin  and  for  uncleanness,  to  which 
the  poorest  and  the  vilest  are  invited  to  come.  Here, 
around  the  Man  of  sorrows — bleeding,  dying  and  con- 
quering in  death — we  take  our  place ;  nor  will  we  re- 


52  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

move  our  gaze  from  the  cross  and  the  Crucified  till 
our  eyes  fill  with  tears  and  our  hearts  overflow  with 
love. 

Fourth.  Let  us  now  mention,  briefly,  various  partic- 
ulars connected  with  this  redemption,  in  order  that  we 
may  obtain,  if  it  be  possible,  a  comprehensive  view  of 
the  plan  and  intention  of  God  in  it  and  in  us. 

(1)  The  person  is  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  there 
is  no  other  name  given  among  men  whereby  we  can  be 
saved.  His  blood  alone  can  wash  away  our  sins ;  and 
the  reason  is  that  he  is  the  Son  of  God,  he  is  the  ap- 
pointed I^amb,  and  there  is  no  other  sacrifice  for  sin. 
In  him  is  life,  and  the  life  is  the  light  of  men.  All 
the  methods  of  obtaining  pardon  and  quieting  the  con- 
science by  means  of  human  merit  are  simply  devices 
of  the  devil.  We  have  redemption  in  his  blood,  even 
the  forgiveness  of  our  sins,  according  to  the  riches  of 
his  grace. 

(2)  Redemption  is  twofold — redemption  by  ^^ri!<^e  and 
redemption  by  power,  corresponding  to  his  coming  in 
the  flesh  and  his  coming  in  glory.  We  have  the  one, 
and  we  wait  for  the  other.  The  price  is  paid  and  the 
pardon  sealed,  but  the  inheritance  is  not  yet  clear,  nor 
the  usurper  cast  out,  nor  the  last  enemy  destroyed.  But 
eTesus  is  coming  again,  and  the  enemy  shall  be  shut  up  for 
a  thousand  years  and  the  whole  world  filled  with  the 
glory  of  God.  This  is  redemption  by  power,  called  also 
the  redemption  of  the  body  (Rom.  viii.),  for  wliich  we 
are  to  wait  and  pray  patiently.  Here  again  we  see 
how  everything  is  connected  with  the  person  of  Christ 
and  finds  its  importance  and  value  in  liim.  The  two 
comings  of  Christ,  the  cross  and  the  crown,  are  the  two 
centres  of  all  Christian  truth,  the  poles  in  the  Script- 


CHAPTER    I.     VERSES  7-14.  53 

lire  firmament  around  which  the  stars  of  promise  and 
prophecy  revolve. 

(3)  The  importance  of  the  doctrine  of  redemption  is 
seen  in  many  ways.  We  see  it  in  the  frequency  with 
which  it  is  mentioned  in  the  ScrijDtures,  where  the  cross 
is  the  great  attraction  in  which  the  Church  of  God,  with 
the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  rejoices  to  glory.  It  is  seen 
in  the  various  names  of  the  Kedeemer  which  refer  to 
him  as  the  propitiatory  sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  the 
world ;  in  the  offices  which  he  sustains  as  Mediator ; 
in  the  innumerable  types,  figures  and  allusions  of 
Scripture  which  find  their  force  and  significancy  in 
his  redemption.  It  is  seen  in  the  dignity  of  the  Per- 
son that  died,  in  the  number  and  value  of  the  souls  he 
has  saved,  in  the  wretchedness  of  the  state  in  which  he 
found  them,  and  in  the  holiness,  blessedness  and  glory 
to  which  he  has  lifted  them  up.  The  Author  of  it  is 
great,  the  end  of  it  is  great,  and  the  means  by  which  it 
is  accomplished  are  great  and  wonderful.  Behold  the 
nations  that  are  still  in  ignorance,  brutality  and  bar- 
barism— the  nations  that  know  not  his  name — and 
think  what  he  has  done  for  us.  Ask  the  angels  who 
accompanied  him  upon  earth  and  at  Bethelehem  or  the 
grave :  they  will  tell  you  the  importance  of  redeeming 
love ;  ask  the  Church  of  the  first-born  who  are  written 
in  heaven  what  they  think  of  the  person  and  work  of 
the  Redeemer,  and  they  answer  with  the  new  song, 
"  Thou  art  worthy  to  take  the  book,  and  to  open  the 
seals  thereof:  for  thou  wast  slain,  and  hast  redeemed 
us  to  God  by  thy  blood  out  of  every  kindred,  and 
tongue,  and  people,  and  nation ;  and  hast  made  us 
unto  our  God  kings  and  priests:  and  we  shall  reign 
on  the  earth"   (Rev.  v.  9,  10);   or  ask  a  fallen  spirit 


54  GRAHAM  ON   EPHESIANS. 

whose  day  of  grace  is  past,  and  he  may  be  able  to  tell 
you  the  importance  of  redeeming  love.  Oh,  my  broth- 
er, this  love  is  presented  to  thee  now.  For  thee  the 
U'reat  Victim  died.  Oh,  was  there  ever  love  like  this 
love  ?  was  there  ever  condescension  like  this  ?  O  my 
God  and  Father,  is  all  this  really  true  and  all  for  me  f 
Thou  hast,  then,  indeed  thought  of  me,  and  my  sins 
were  there  when  the  Saviour  died.  Help  me,  then, 
great  God,  to  say,  "  From  this  day,  and  for  evermore, 
I  give  myself  to  thee,  to  thee — to  thee  alone !  Thou 
art  my  God,  and  it  is  and  shall  be  my  great  end  to 
please  and  love  thee." 

(4)  The  basis  on  which  the  doctrine  of  redemption 
rests  is  found  in  the  nature  and  constitution  of  man. 
It  is  often  asked  by  skeptics  and  others,  "  Is  it  possible 
that  a  righteous  one  should  suffer  for  the  sins  of  the 
world  ?  Is  it  just  that  the  righteous  should  suffer  for 
the  guilty?"  Answer:  "It  is  possible  and  right  and 
iu  harmony  with  the  whole  history  of  nature  and 
Providence." 

Consider  the  following  facts :  The  race  of  man  was 
created  in  a  unity ;  men  did  not  arise  all  at  once  by  the 
fiat  of  the  Creator  in  their  distinct  personalities  like  the 
angels :  we  were  created  in  a  representative  head.  This 
is  a  fact  which  cannot  be  doubted  or  denied.  It  is  a 
fact,  too,  that  we  all  fell  in  the  fall  of  this  head,  and 
the  curse  of  sin  and  death  flows  over  us  all  since  that 
fatal  day.  It  is  a  fact  that  the  nations  and  kingdoms 
of  the  world  are  blessed  or  cursed  in  the  providence  of 
God  on  the  same  principle  of  "  the  many  in  the  one." 
In  Shem  a  whole  race  was  blest ;  in  Ham  a  whole  race 
was  cursed ;  and  Gen.  xvi.  12  is  the  characteristic  of 
the  Ishmaelites  unto  this  day.    The  Jewish  nation  were 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES  7-14.  55 

chosen  in  Abraham,  and  the  one  holy  people  was  taken 
to  be  the  means  of  blessing  to  all  the  Gentiles.  It  is  so 
in  all  our  relations  of  life,  and  we  can  no  more  alter  it 
than  we  can  raise  the  dead.  A  whole  family  is  blest  in 
a  good  father  or  cursed  in  a  bad  one  ;  and  so  it  is  with 
pastors  and  churches,  with  kings  and  nations.  Now,  if 
you  lay  all  these  facts  together,  you  will  find  that  when 
God  ordained  grace  and  salvation  to  the  many  through 
the  life  and  death  of  the  one,  he  was  acting  out  the 
very  principles  according  to  which  he  created  and 
governs  the  human  race.  As  to  the  innocent  suffer- 
ing for  the  guilty,  the  fact  is  too  common  to  require  any 
consideration  here. 

(5)  As  to  the  fullness  of  the  redemption  made  by 
Christ,  we  have  the  words  of  the  text  to  assure  us  that 
it  is  "  according  to  the  riches  of  his  graced  He  does 
not  measure  his  gifts  by  either  our  wishes  or  our  wants, 
but,  having  opened  up  the  fountains  of  his  mercy,  he 
will  show  to  the  angels  and  the  whole  creation  how 
high,  how  beautiful,  how  glorious,  his  grace  can  make 
us.  He  is  rich  in  mercy.  The  power  which  garnished 
the  heavens  and  the  love  which  gave  his  Son  to  die 
are  united  in  "  the  riches  of  his  grace."  This  is  the 
only  measure  which  a  sovereign  God  could  give.  His 
own  spontaneous  bounty  is  the  rule  of  his  conduct  in 
l^lessing  his  creatures.  This  is  reiterated  and  strength- 
ened in  the  eighth  verse :  "  Wherein  he  hath  abounded 
toward  us  in  all  wisdom  and  prudence." 

The  word  wherein  is  a  Greek  genitive  by  a  rule  called 
attraction,  and  refers,  undoubtedly,  to  "  grace,"  but  the 
form  it  stands  for  is  not  so  easily  determined.  If  we 
take  the  verb  "  abound "  in  its  natural,  intransitive 
meaning  (John  vi.   12;    Phil.  iv.   12,   18;    Luke  xv. 


56  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

17),  we  must  take  the  pronoun  in  the  nominative  case, 
as  Jerome  did:  ^^ Qucb superabundavit  in  nobis''  ("Ac- 
cording to  the  riches  of  his  grace  which  abounded  in 
us ") ;  and  so  also  Luther  translates :  "  Welche  uns 
reichlich  wiederfahren  ist.''  De  Wette  and  others  take 
the  verb  in  its  active  sense  (see  1  Ti;ess.  iii.  12 ; 
iv.  1)  and  the  pronoun  in  the  accusative,  thus :  "  Welche 
er  uberschwenglich  gemacht  '  ("  Which  grace  he  has 
made  exceeding  abundant  toward  us ")  ;  while  Cal- 
vin, our  translators  and  others  take  the  pronoun  to 
be  for  a  dative,  and  translate :  "  Wherein  or  in  which 
he  has  abounded  toward  us  in  all  wisdom  and  pru- 
dence ;"  and  it  might  lie  argued,  as  others  have  done, 
that  there  is  no  attraction  in  the  case,  for  the  Greek 
verb  may  govern  a  genitive,  as  is  proved  by  Luke  xv. 
17.  All  these  varieties  make  no  essential  difference  in 
the  sense.  Those  who  connect  the  words  "  in  all  wis- 
dom and  prudence "  with  "  having  made  known,"  in 
the  ninth  verse,  pervert  the  entire  meaning  of  the  pas- 
sage ;  for  the  apostle  is  not  speaking  of  the  modes  of 
making  known  the  divine  will,  but  of  the  superabound- 
ing  grace  of  God.  The  meaning  is,  "In  the  redemp- 
tion through  the  blood  of  Christ,  God  has  manifested 
supreme  wisdom  and  prudence."  Harless  and  Olshausen 
indeed  assert  that  the  phrase  "  in  all  wisdom  and  pru- 
dence "  can  never  be  applied  to  God,  and  consequently 
they  change  the  entire  sentence  and  supply  what  they 
deem  requisite  to  complete  the  sense.  But  is  this  in- 
terpretation ?  It  is  very  like  making  Scripture.  But 
why  can  we  not  say  that  God  has  manifested  all  wis- 
dom and  prudence  in  the  redemption  of  the  world 
through  Christ?  All  wisdom  is  supreme  wisdom 
{summa  sapientia),  and  it  has  surely  been  manifested 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES  7-14.  57 

more  fully  in  the  system  of  redemption  than  anywhere 
else.  Is  it  not  through  the  redeemed  Church  that  Je- 
hovah intends  to  make  known  his  manifold  wisdom  to 
the  angels  and  principalities  of  heaven  itself?  (Eph. 
iii.  10.)  That  prudence  may  be  referred  to  God  is  clear 
from  Isa.  xi.  2 ;  Jer.  x.  12 ;  Prov.  iii.  19 ;  1  Kings  iii. 
28.  The  passage  therefore  teaches  that  the  wisdom  and 
the  prudence  of  God  were  in  the  highest  and  noblest 
manner  displayed  in  the  work  of  redemj^tion,  nor  will 
any  one  to  whom  the  cross  is  dear  find  much  difficulty 
in  receiving;  this  truth. 

II.    The  Dispensation  of  the   Fullness  of  Times. 

Having  made  known  unto  us  the  mystery  of  his  will, 
according  to  his  good  pleasure  which  he  hath  purposed  in 
himself:  that  in  the  dispensation  of  the  fullness  of  times 
he  might  gather  together  in  one  all  things  in  Christ,  both 
which  are  in  heaven,  and  which  are  on  earth ;  even  in 
him :  in  whom  also  we  have  obtained  an  iiiheritance,  be- 
ing predestinated,  according  to  the  purpose  of  him  who 
worheth  all  things  after  the  counsel  of  his  own  will :  that 
we  should  be  to  the  praise  of  his  glory,  who  first  trusted 
in  Chi'ist.  In  whom  ye  also  trusted,  after  that  ye  heard 
the  word  of  truth,  the  gospel  of  your  salvation :  in  whom 
also  after  that  ye  believed,  ye  were  sealed  with  that  holy 
Spirit  of  promise,  which  is  the  earnest  of  our  inheritance 
until  the  redernption  of  the  purchased  possession,  unto 
the  praise  of  his  glory  (i.  9-14). 

This  is  the  subject  of  our  passage  from  the  ninth  to 
the  fourteenth  verse,  and  we  are  now  to  set  ourselves 
with  all  diligence  to  contemplate  this  plan  which  God 
has  devitsed  for  the  establishing  and  heading  up  the 
creation  in  Christ. 


58  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

First.  Having  made  hnown  the  mystery  of  his  ivill. 
There  are  some  things  which  we  can  know  about  God 
without  any  divine  revelation,  and  these  are  not  revealed 
to  us  in  the  Scriptures ;  they  are  taken  for  granted  as 
already  known  (Rom,  i.  2 ;  Gen.  i.  1).  His  eternal  power 
and  Godhead  are  written  on  the  works  of  his  hands — 
on  the  earth  and  the  sea ;  on  the  sun,  moon  and  stars ; 
and  on  the  whole  creation — so  that  idolatry  and  panthe- 
ism are  without  excuse  ;  and  every  intelligent  being  is 
bound  from  the  visible  universe  to  recognize  and  adore 
Him  who 

"  Warms  in  the  sun,  refreshes  in  the  breeze, 
Glows  in  the  stars  and  blossoms  in  the  trees, 
Lives  through  all  life,  extends  through  all  extent. 
Spreads  undivided,  operates  unspent." 

But,  while  nature  teaches  clearly  the  fact  that  creative 
power  exists,  how  little  does  it  teach  us  of  the  nature  and 
of  the  attributes  of  God  !  We  look  up  to  the  starry  sky 
and  tremble  before  the  power  of  the  Creator,  but,  as 
touching  our  own  state  and  condition,  we  can  learn 
nothing  of  his  will,  his  disposition  toward  us;  and 
therefore,  the  more  sublime  our  conceptions  of  his  power 
and  majesty,  the  more  overwhelming  must  be  our  terror 
and  suspicion.  When  the  power  is  manifest  and  the 
purpose  unknown,  we  cannot  feel  repose. .  We  seek  a 
loving  heart  that  can  be  interested  in  us ;  else  the 
thunderbolts  of  divine  Power  may  either  fly  at  random, 
or  perhaps  they  may  be  directed  against  us.  Nature 
reveals  the  Creator  and  the  Bible  the  Father,  and  both 
books  are  necessary  to  illustrate  the  character  of  Je- 
hovah. He  has  made  known  the  mystery  of  his  will 
in  the  Scriptures  generally,  but  more  especially  in  his 
Son  Jesus  Christ. 


CHAPTER    I.     VERSKS  7-14.  59 

Second.  This  revelation  is  "  accoi'ding  to  his  good 
pleasure,  which  he  hath  jyurposed  in  hiuise/f  before  the 
world  began y  The  works  of  creation  and  providence, 
taken  in  tlieir  widest  sense,  are  but  the  outward  and 
visible  manifestation  of  the  all-comprehending  purpose 
of  God ;  but  the  form  which  this  purpose  takes  in 
regard  to  the  Church  and  the  Church's  Head  is  eudo- 
kia — the  good  pleasure  of  God,  the  purpose  of  love, 
the  fullness  of  Jehovah's  mercy  to  mankind. 

The  word  vvliich  we  render  pmyose  has  two  significa- 
tions in  Scripture.  It  means  "  exhibition,"  and  is  ap- 
plied to  the  show-bread  (comp.  LXX.  and  Heb.  text,  Ex. 
XXXV.  13 ;  xxxix.  36 ;  1  Kings  vii.  48 ;  2  Chron.  iv.  19) 
which  was  placed  in  order  before  the  Lord  uj)on  the 
table  in  the  holy  place.  So  Jesus  Christ  is  the  true 
temple  of  God,  in  which  the  ages  and  dispensations  of 
the  Church  and  the  world  are  arranged  and  exhibited 
in  outward  reality.  In  him  the  whole  system  of  prov- 
idence, from  the  beginning,  is  harmoniously  arrayed, 
like  the  twelve  cakes  on  the  holy  table.  The  seeds  of 
life,  which  ii  the  form  of  promise  and  revelation  were 
sown  into  oar  world  at  different  times,  take  root  and 
flourish  in  him;  and,  as  nature  does  nothing  by  fits 
and  starts,  so  grace  also,  in  the  development  of  its 
strength  and  majesty,  moves  onward  through  the  ages 
in  an  orderly  and  gradual  manner,  manifesting  as  it  is 
needed  more  and  more  of  the  fullness  of  Christ.  But 
the  word  denotes  more  frequently,  as  in  our  text,  the 
purpose  from  which  all  future  arrangements  and  devel- 
opments flow  (Rom.  viii.  28;  ix.  11;  Eph.  iii.  11; 
2  Tim.  i.  9).  Our  text  tells  us  this  purpose  was  formed 
ill  the  mind  of  God  himself — that  is,  God  the  Father 
a.s  distinguished  from  the  Son.     Now,  it  is  remarkable 


GO  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

that  the  election  (that  part  of  the  purpose  that  relates 
to  the  Church,  Eph.  i.  4 ;  2  Tim.  i.  9)  is  referred  to  the 
Son,  and  not  to  the  Father ;  and  this  only  shows  that 
the  purpose  of  God — so  far  as  it  refers  to  the  Church, 
so  far  as  it  carries  in  it  the  seeds  of  grace — can  never 
be  contemplated  apart  from  the  Redeemer,  through 
vvhom  alone,  as  Mediator,  the  divine  mercy  flows. 

Third.  The  design  of  this  plan  or  purpose  is  "  that 
in  the  dispensation  of  the  fullness  of  times'^  (Greek  "  the 
times  ")  "  he  anight  gather  together  in  one  all  things  in 
Ch7'ist,  both  which  are  iri  heaven  and  which  are  on  the 
earth,  even  in  him.^'  The  word  translated  dis2:)ensation 
is  economy,  a  Greek  word  which  signifies  "  the  law  of 
the  house,"  and  means  the  plan  which  a  father  lays 
down  for  the  management  of  his  household — the  house- 
law  ;  and  the  apostle  assures  us  that  God  is  Econoiiie, 
or  Householder;  that  Jesus  Christ,  his  Son,  is  the 
Head  or  Steward,  under  whom  it  is  his  jDleasure  to 
gather  together  all  things  which  are  in  heaven  and 
in  earth.  The  Church  Fathers,  probably  from  this 
passage,  apply  the  word  "  economy  "  to  the  incarnation 
of  Christ,  because  that  was  the  great  fact  which  brought 
him  into  union  with  the  family  of  God,  and  is,  indeed, 
the  most  central  truth  in  the  system  of  grace  and  the 
one  which  gives  character  and  importance  to  all  the 
rest.  The  first  truth  taught,  therefore,  is  this :  "  God 
has  a  great  family,  and  he  now  wishes  to  make  known 
the  law  of  his  house ;"  his  eternal  purpose  had  respect 
to  this  economy ;  as  its  end,  the  fullness  of  the  times 
is  to  be  subordinated  to  this  fatherly  design.  The 
word  pleroma,  whether  you  take  it  as  "  fullness  "  or 
"complement,"  designates  the  whole  series  of  ages 
during  which  the  Father  remains  working  among  the 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES  7-14.  61 

nations  to  subdue  them  to  Christ  (Ps.  ex.).  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  Head,  in  whom  all  things  are  to  be 
recapitulated  and  established.  The  neuter  all  things 
is  not  used  here,  as  some  think,  for  the  masculine  "  all 
persons,"  as  if  the  Headship  of  Christ  referred  only  to 
the  Church ;  for  the  word  of  God  assures  us  that  all 
l^ower  in  heaven  and  in  earth  is  given  him ;  and  in 
Eph.  i.  22  he  is  declared  to  be  Head  over  all  things 
to  the  Church,  which  is  his  body — the  fullness  of 
him  that  filleth  all  in  all.  He  is  the  Head  of  the 
body  and  the  Head  over  all.  The  Church  is  united 
to  the  risen  King  with  bands  of  love  which  nothing 
can  sever  (E-om.  viii.  35),  and  the  whole  created  uni- 
verse is  subjected  to  his  control.  The  temple  of  cre- 
ation is  broken  and  dilapidated  by  the  fall ;  sin  has 
marred  its  beauty  and  rent  it  to  its  foundations ;  and 
the  office  of  Christ,  as  the  Head  of  the  Church  and 
the  universe,  is  to  reorganize  what  was  decomposed  and 
re-collect  the  scattered  fragments — as  Beza  expresses 
it,  "  Summatim  recolligere,  partes  dissectas  et  divukas  in 
unwn  corpus  conjimgere.''  This  is  the  purpose  of  the 
Lord,  and  it  gives  importance  to  the  work  and  medi- 
ation of  Christ.  He  is  the  Head  and  Restorer  in 
whom  the  divine  purpose  shall  be  revealed  and 
perfected. 

It  is  true,  indeed,  that  at  present  we  see  but  little  of 
the  fullness  of  this  purpose  revealed ;  but  we  see  every- 
thing in  preparation  for  its  speedy  accomplishment. 
The  law  of  the  Creator  has  been  vindicated,  so  that, 
without  any  violation  of  royal  rights,  mercy  can  be 
extended  to  the  rebellious  race;  the  union  between 
the  Creator  and  the  creatui-e  has  been  formed  in  the 
person  of  the  incarnate  Bon,  so  that  a  living  mediating 


62  GRAHAM    ON    EPHE81AXS. 

Head  between  .Jehovah  and  his  creatures  has  been 
actually  established  in  the  heavens.  The  proclama- 
tion of  the  gospel,  through  the  mediation  of  the  Re- 
deemer, has  resulted  in  the  calling  and  sanctification 
of  the  Gentile  Church ;  and  when  the  number  of  his 
elect  shall  be  completed,  the  day  of  God  shall  reveal 
more  and  more  of  his  wondrous  purpose  of  love,  into 
whose  various  parts,  as  the  great  drama  is  being  trans- 
acted on  the  theatre  of  this  world,  the  holy  angels 
desire  to  look,  and  to  learn  the  manifold  wisdom  of 
God. 

The  fullness  of  the  times  can  by  no  means  be  limited 
to  the  present  dispensation.  On  the  contrary,  the 
gathering  together  of  all  things  in  the  Christ  has 
respect  mainly  to  the  times  of  the  restitution  of  all 
things  at  the  advent  of  the  Lord,  called  also  the  times 
of  refreshing  (Acts  iii.  19,  20,  where  whe7i  should  be 
translated  "  that "  or  "  in  order  that ")  which  are  to 
fill  every  heart  with  joy  and  the  whole  earth  with  the 
glory  of  the  Lord.  Then  the  creation,  now  groaning 
and  longing  for  the  Deliverer  (Rom.  viii.  19-24),  shall, 
under  the  manifested  Headship  of  the  Mediator,  be 
brought  into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of 
God.  What  further  steps  there  may  be  in  the  prog- 
ress of  the  divine  purpose  after  the  coming  of  Christ 
and  the  resurrection  of  the  saints,  after  the  millennial 
ages  and  the  final  judgment  and  through  the  ages  of 
eternity,  we  know  not;  but  we  say  with  the  godly 
Toplady,  "  The  more  the  better."  Yes,  the  ages  shall 
show  us  more  and  more  of  the  love  of  God  as  they 
roll  on ;  and  the  one  living  Head  of  the  Church  and 
of  the  universe  shall  for  ever  and  ever  draw  us  on- 
ward and  upward  into   nearer  and    closer   fellowship 


CHAPTER    1.     VERSES  7-14.  63 

with  God,  into  the  deeper  and  more  comprehensive 
knowledge  of  his  wisdom,  into  ever-brighter  visions  of 
his  beatific  glory. 

We  proceed  now  to  sum  up  \hQ  facts  connected  with 
this  dispensation  of  the  fullness  of  the  times,  that  we 
may  have  them  before  us  at  one  view. 

(1)  This  purpose  of  pure  and  eternal  love  springs 
from  the  spontaneous  mercy  of  God,  who  before  the 
foundation  of  the  world  determined  to  redeem,  re-estab- 
lish and  glorify  his  creature  man  (Eph.  i.  4  ;  Rom.  viii. 
28 ;  2  Thess.  ii.  13 ;  2  Tim.  i.  9  ;  1  Pet.  i.  2 ;  ii.  9,  etc.). 

(2)  This  purpose  of  electing  love  was  by  the  Father 
purposed  in  the  Christ  (Eph.  i.  4 ;  1  Pet.  i.  2),  and  in 
him  the  means  are  to  be  found  for  executing  and  per- 
fecting it ;  so  that  grace  to  the  sinner  is  evermore  con- 
nected with  the  person  of  the  Redeemer,  whether  in 
the  purpose,  the  means  or  the  final  fruition.  God  in 
Christ  is  the  sinner's  God,  and  the  only  refuge  for  him 
is  the  throne  of  grace. 

(3)  There  appear  to  be  various  forms  or  degrees  of 
the  Headship  of  Christ.  He  is  Head  of  the  Church 
(Eph.  V.  23 ;  iv.  15 ;  Col.  i.  18) ;  he  is  Head  of  the 
human  race,  the  second  Adam,  in  whom  all  shall  be 
made  alive  (1  Cor.  xi.  3 ;  xv.  22) ;  he  is  the  Head 
of  all  authority  and  power,  the  Prince  of  the  kings 
of  the  earth,  to  whom  they  are  bound  to  do  homage 
(Rev.  i.  5) ;  he  is  Head  over  the  angels  and  principal- 
ities of  heaven  (1  Pet.  iii.  22).  In  a  more  general 
sense  still  he  is  Head  over  all  things,  visible  and  in- 
visible, the  heavenly  and  the  earthly,  the  whole  created 
universe  (Eph.  i.  10,  20,  21,  22;  1  Cor.  xv.  27). 

(4)  From  this  passage  Calvin  drew  the  conclusion 
that  the  death  of  Christ  confirmed  the  unfallen  angels 


64  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

in  their  estate  of  holiness.  Before  the  redemption- 
work  of  the  Saviour  was  completed  the  angels  were 
not  out  of  the  region  of  danger  {extra -per iculum),  but 
the  Headship  of  the  risen  Saviour  has  perfectly  estab- 
lished their  union  with  God  and  made  their  glorious 
state  infallibly  secure:  '' Primum  ut  perfecte  et  solide 
adhereant  Deo,  delude  ut  perpetumn  datum  retineantr 
Grotius  says  there  were  formerly  factions  among  the 
aneels  which  the  work  of  Christ  removed:  ^^Antea 
inter  angelos  factiones  erant — ea  siistulit  Christusy 
These  are  speculations  which  are  foreign  to  the  pas- 
sage and  cannot  be  proved  from  the  word  of  God. 
Others,  looking  at  this  text  in  another  light,  seem  anx- 
ious to  draw  from  it  the  conclusion  that  all  mankind, 
and  even  the  fallen  angels,  shall  finally  be  saved.  This 
opinion  is,  indeed,  extensively  entertained  in  Germany, 
but  it  is  entirely  contrary  to  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the 
New  Testament.  Augustine  speculated  from  one  pas- 
sage that  the  elect  from  among  men  were  to  make  up 
the  number  and  occupy  the  place  of  the  fallen  angels. 
Bengel  and  others  make  the  gathering  together  of  all 
things  to  consist  in  tlie  restoring,  tli  rough  the  Head- 
ship of  Christ,  the  harmony  between  angels  and  men 
which  sin  had  broken.  This  is  indeed  a  truth  of  much 
importance,  and  contained  in  the  passage,  but  it  does 
not  exhaust  it.  All  these  difficulties  are  removed  by 
taking  the  all  things  in  their  native  sense  as  denoting 
the  universe,  and  not  intelligent  beings  merely.  In 
this  view  the  passage  is  in  substance  the  same  as  Matt, 
xviii.  18.  The  universal  Headsliip  is  for  the  purpose 
of  revealing  by  and  to  the  creation  the  unlimited  au- 
thority witli  which  He  is  invested. 

(5)  Let  us,  before  leaving  this  magnificent  passage, 


CHAPTER    I.     VERSES   7-14.  65 

refresh  our  hearts  and  brighten  our  hopes  by  contem- 
plating the  Headship  of  Christ  in  its  relations  to  our- 
selves. He,  then,  is  passed  into  the  heavens  as  our 
Forerunner  and  Head  who  erewhile  atoned  for  our 
guilt  on  the  accursed  tree.  He  is  gone  to  the  right 
hand  of  God  in  our  immortalized  and  glorified  human- 
ity, far  above  principality  and  power  and  every  name 
that  is  named,  not  only  in  this  world,  but  also  in  that 
which  is  to  come.  What  virtues  and  capacities  must 
be  in  the  nature  of  man,  when  it  is  capable  of  such 
enlargement  and  glorification !  W^  at  sin  must  be, 
which  has  brought  us  into  Satan's  rule  and  the  cor- 
ruption of  the  grave !  And  oh,  what  must  the  grace 
of  God  be,  whicli  has  stooped  so  low  that  it  might 
reach  us  an  1  then  lift  us  to  such  heights  o':'  glory? 
Our  nature  is  enthroned  on  the  dominion  of  the  uni- 
verse ;  our  human  nature,  in  the  person  of  the  God- 
Man,  is  shown  to  be  the  royal  form  of  created  being — 
the  regnant  and  dominant  race  whom  it  delighted  the 
heavenly  King  to  hon(n".  Verily,  here  is  a  hope  set 
before  us,  my  brother,  w!  ich  may  well  make  the  eye 
brighten  and  the  heart  leap.  Oh,  here  is  the  dignity 
of  human  nature  in  its  true  and  eternal  importance — 
a  dignity  which  philosophers  little  dreamed  of;  so 
high,  so  ennobling,  so  inconceivable,  so  like  the  glo- 
rious God  who  devised  it,  so  worthy  of  the  redeeming 
love  which  procured  it,  so  demonstrative  of  the  failure 
of  all  Satan's  rage  and  malevolence  against  us,  of  the 
reversal  of  the  curse,  of  the  abolition  of  deat  •,  of  the 
triumph  of  righteousness,  of  the  irreversible  purpose 
and  progress  of  Jehovah's  love  to  mankind.  I  am  far, 
therefore,  from  subscribing  to  the  opinion  of  C  lirysos- 
tom,  who  says,  "  God  has  appointed  one  Head      He  has 


66  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

given  one  sovereignty  in  Jesus  Christ  over  angels  and 
men.     As  man,  he  is  Head  of  the  human  race;    as 
God  the  Word,  he  is  Head  of  the  angels."     For,  first, 
there  is  more  in  the  ta  panla  (all  things)  of  our  text 
than  the  two  races  of  men  and  angels ;  and,  secondly, 
it  is  utterly  unscriptural  to  separate  the  natures  of 
Christ  and  say  the  divine  rules  over  the  angels  and 
the  human  over  mankind.     No ;  the  one  person  of  the 
Christ,  the  one  God-Man  Mediator,   rules  over  both, 
over  all,  and  is  the  one  undivided,  all-sustaining,  all- 
uniting,  all-comprehending  Head  of  the  whole  universe. 
We  recognize  our  own  nature  in  this  living  Head,  and 
feel  that  we  have  a  Friend  above  who  knows  our  frame 
and  remembers  that  we  are  dust.     Here  is  the  dignity 
and  the  destiny  of  man.     Look  to  the  stable  and  the 
cross  and  the  grave,  and  believe  in  the  humiliation  of 
the  Son  of  God.     Look  to  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty 
on  high,  and  behold  the  exaltation  of  the  Son  of  man. 
Ye  weeping  saints,  ye  dying  martyrs,  look  up  stead- 
fastly into  heaven  like  Stephen,  and  in  the  glory  of  the 
heavenly  throne  behold  the  form  of  the  Son  of  man. 
Here,  here,  is  the  bright  high  home  of  the  redeemed 
Church.     Here,  here,  in  the  circle  of  the  throne  (Rev. 
v.  11),  in  the  presence   of  Him  who  loved  us,  with 
him  for  ever,  and  like  him  in  every  faculty  of  the 
mind  and  in  every  fibre  of  the  body,  we  shall  know 
more  than  did  Baxter  of  the  saint's  everlasting  rest. 
The  apostle  adds,  for  the  sake  of  emphasis,  and  to 
serve  as  a  connection  with  the  next  verse,  even  in  him. 
All  things  in  him — even  in  him.     His  person  is  the 
centre   of   the   apostle's   thoughts   and    hopes,   and    it 
should  be  the  centre  of  ours  too.     Of  him  all  nature 
and  grace  should  testify,  and  does  to  the  ear  of  reason 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES  7-14.  67 

and  the  heart  of  love.  We  feel  him  in  the  life  of  our 
renewed  nature ;  we  see  him  in  the  sun,  moon  and  stars, 
and  in  the  light  of  the  circumambient  air.  The  lamb 
and  the  lion  testify  of  him ;  the  vine  with  its  pendent 
clusters,  the  rose  of  Sharon  and  the  lily-of-the-valley 
are  monitors  to  point  our  thoughts  to  him.  Our  life 
is  hid  with  him  in  God,  and  when  He  who  is  our  life 
shall  appear,  then  shall  we  also  appear  with  him  in 
glory  (Col.  iii.  1-5).  We  labor  in  him,  and  our  weak- 
ness becomes  strong  through  the  union  ;  we  die  in  him 
when  our  work  is  done,  and  in  him  we  find  our  ever- 
lasting crown.  It  is  a  holy  habit  of  mind  to  contem- 
plate all  things  in  him ;  to  read  every  lesson  which 
nature  teaches  in  the  light  of  his  love ;  to  find  him 
ever  present,  ever  near,  in  all  that  can  befall  us  in 
both  eternity  and  time. 

We  come  now  to  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  verses, 
which  reveal  to  us — 

III.  The  Inheritance. 

Li  whom  also  we  have  obtained  an  inheritance,  being 
predestinated  according  to  the  purpose  of  him  who  work- 
eth  all  things  after  the  counsel  of  his  own  ivill :  that 
we  should  be  to  the  praise  of  his  glory,  who  first  trust- 
ed in  Christ  (ver.  11,  12). 

In  whom  also  ive  have  obtained  an  inheritance.  The 
Greek  verb  here  contains  a  reference  to  the  possessions 
of  the  children  of  Israel,  which  were  divided  to  them 
by  lot ;  and  hence  many  of  the  ancients,  and  De  Wette 
among  the  moderns,  render  it  thus:  "In  whom  we 
were  chosen,  being  predestinated  according  to  his 
purpose."  But  this  gives  only  a  frigid  meaning,  and, 
besides,  another  and  more  proper  word  is  used  for  the 


68  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

election  in  verse  4.  It  may,  indeed,  very  well  include 
the  idea  of  both  the  mode  of  the  election  and  the  pos- 
session ;  and,  consequently,  Bloomfield  renders  it  thus  • 
"  Through  whom  also  we  have  allotted  to  us  this  pos- 
session." The  principal  idea,  however,  is  the  inherit- 
ance, and  not  the  ynode  of  obtaining  it;  and  hence 
Luther,  Meyer  and  Harless  have  rendered  it  exactly 
as  our  translators  have  done :  "In  whom  we  have 
obtained  an  inheritance."  The  text,  therefore,  is  sub- 
stantially the  same  as  Col.  i.  12;  Acts  xx.  32;  xxvi. 
18;  Rom.  viii.  17,  and  carries  the  mind  away  to  the 
blessedness  reserved  for  the  righteous. 

The  Israelites  in  their  bondage  looked  for  an  earth- 
ly Canaan,  and  we  too  are  marching  from  lilgypt  to 
Canaan — to  an  inheritance  incorruptible  and  un  defiled 
and  that  fadeth  not  away.  Hope  is  an  essential  part  of 
our  being,  and  the  form  which  the  future  blessings  of 
the  new  covenant  take  is  that  of  an  inheritance.  In 
Egypt  the  Israelites  hoped  for  deliverance,  and  God  de- 
livered them  ;  in  the  wilderness  they  looked  for  a  settled 
resting-place,  and  G.)d  broui;ht  them  finally  over  the 
Jordan  into  the  Promised  Land.  But  did  they  then 
cease  to  hope  ?  No ;  there  were  in  them  from  the  be- 
ginning the  seeds  of  a  better  and  more  enduring  in- 
heritance, and  the  nation  was  filled  and  its  whole  wor- 
ship and  ritual  interpenetrated  with  the  hopes  of  a 
coming  Messias,  who  wa^  to  make  an  end  of  sin  and 
bring  in  everlasting  righteousness.  And  now  that 
Moses  has  laid  off  the  veil,  and  the  Christian  Church 
is  surrounded  with  the  splendors  of  a  brighter  light 
and  a  better  covenant,  is  there  nothing  left  to  hope  for  ? 
Yes,  very  much.  The  whole  creation  is  groaning  and 
travailing  in  pain  together  until  now  ;  and  we  who  have 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES  7-14.  69 

received  the  first-fruits  of  the  Spirit  are  waiting  for  the 
adoption,  which  is  the  redemption  of  the  body,  which 
is  the  resurrection  from  the  dead,  which  is  the  coming 
of  Christ,  which  is  the  blessed  hope  which  purifies  us 
even  as  he  is  pure  (Rom.  viii.  19-24 ;  1  John  iii. 
2,  3). 

Nor  can  we  argue  against  the  futurity  of  the  inherit- 
ance from  the  aorist  form  of  the  verb — we  have  obtained 
an  inheritance — for  such  is  the  language  of  Scripture 
generally,  and  such  must  ever  be  the  language  of  faith, 
which  overlooks  all  distinctions  of  time  and  space  and 
seeks  to  appropriate  as  much  as  possible  the  realities  of 
the  future.  Thus  the  believer  is  crucified  with  Christ, 
buried  with  him  by  baptism  into  death,  raised  with  him 
to  a  new  life  and  seated  with  him  in  heavenly  places. 
We  have  all  when  we  have  Christ.  We  have  the  crown, 
for  it  is  laid  up  for  us  in  heaven  (2  Tim.  iv.  8)  ;  it  is 
really  ours,  and  we  shall  get  possession  of  it  when  the 
King  comes  (1  Pet.  v.  4).  The  inheritance  is  GUI'S, 
but  it  is  reserved  in  the  skies  for  us  until  the  appearing 
of  Jesus  Christ  (1  Pet.  i.  7).  Besides,  we  may  be  said 
to  have  obtained,  because  Jesus,  our  Head  and  Fore- 
runner, has  obtained  it  for  us.  He  is  the  First-Born  of 
the  family,  the  First-Fruits  of  the  harvest ;  and  as  surely 
as  he  has  entered  into  his  glory,  so  surely  shall  all  his 
redeemed  people  follow  him.  We  are  joint-heirs  with 
Christ ;  and  he,  having  triumphed  over  our  enemies  and 
broken  down  the  barriers  of  sin  and  death  that  ob- 
structed us,  has  entered  in  our  name  into  the  common 
inheritance  of  all  the  saints.  He  has  obtained  it  for 
them,  and  in  the  proper  time  he  shall  put  them  into 
the  actual  possession  of  it.  We  have  also  a  first-fruits 
of  this  inheritance  in  the  eiFusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 


70  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

which  is  the  earnest  of  our  inheritance  until  the  re- 
demption of  the  purchased  possession   (Eph.  i.  14). 

But  the  more  important  question  for  the  believer  is, 
"  What  is  the  inheritance  which  we  expect  ?  We  know 
he  has  died,  and  sin  is  no  more ;  we  know  he  is  risen, 
and  death  is  no  more ;  we  know  that  he  is  ascended, 
and  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Comforter,  abides  with  us  for 
ever.  What  more  has  he  procured  for  us  ?"  llie  in- 
heritance !  But  who  shall  describe  the  glories  of  the 
redeemed  Church  when  they  are  all  gathered  home 
into  the  many-mansioned  house  of  their  Father  in 
heaven  ? 

First.  We  may  learn  something  of  this  inheritance 
from  its  names  in  the  Holy  Scripture.  They  are  prom- 
ised a  kingdom  in  which  they  shall  be  kings  and 
priests  unto  God  for  ever  and  ever  (Rev.  i.  6).  It  is 
called  heaven,  the  dwelling-place  of  God,  where  they 
shall  have  the  fullness  of  joy  at  his  right  hand  and 
rivers  of  pleasure  for  evermore.  It  is  called  the  city 
of  God,  the  New  Jerusalem,  where  the  saints  are  the 
citizens,  Jesus  being  the  King  and  love  the  law.  The 
Scripture  delineations  of  the  New  Jerusalem  are  ex- 
tremely beautiful  and  altogether  different  from  the 
paradise  of  the  Moslems  (Heb.  xi.  10 ;  xii.  22 ;  Rev. 
iii.  12;  xxi.  1-27).  Augustine  has  incorporated  all 
these  into  his  fine  Latin  hymn  on  the  glories  of  par- 
adise, and  old  David  Dixon  has  done  the  same  in 
English  in  his  immortal  canticle  beginning  with  the 
words 

"  O  mother  dear,  Jerusalem." 

It  is  called  our  Father's  house — the  place  where  the 
family  meet  and  where  the  family  treasures  are  kept. 
It  is  the  upper  sanctuary  or  holiest  of  all,  where  they 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES  7-14.  71 

need  no  candle,  neither  light  of  the  sun,  but  the  Lord 
God  and  the  Lamb  are  the  light  thereof.  It  is  called 
the  believer's  cup  or  portion,  the  heavenly  reward  and 
the  crown  of  glory  that  fadeth  not  away.  It  is  called 
joy,  the  highest  name  for  the  blessedness  of  the  right- 
eous, and  they  are  taken  into  it  by  the  Lord  himself 
(Matt.  XXV.  21).  It  is  the  rest  of  the  satisfied  soul  in 
God,  of  which  Richard  Baxter  has  written  so  well  (2 
Thess.  i.  7 ;  Heb.  iv.  1-5).  It  is  the  true  paradise  of 
God,  of  which  Eden  was  but  a  type.  It  is  called  glory 
(Heb.  ii.  10),  eternal  glory  (1  Pet.  v.  10),  inasmuch  as 
the  ineffable  effulgence  of  Godhead  fills  the  place. 
These  are  some  of  the  names  given  to  the  inheritance 
of  the  saints,  and  surely  they  are  well  calculated  to  fill 
us  with  the  purest  and  the  most  ennobling  hopes. 

Second.  But  what  are  the  enjoyments  of  our  heavenly 
home  ?  These,  we  may  well  suppose,  are  spiritual.  The 
carnal  mind,  which  is  enmity  against  God,  has  no  place 
there,  and  the  thousand  cares  and  evil  influences  which 
distract  or  irritate  the  mind  on  earth  are  all  removed 
from  that  better  land.  The  rose  blooms  there  without 
the  thorns,  and  the  holiness  and  the  love  which  were 
here  blighted  by  ungenial  climes  flourish  there  in  the 
freshness  and  vigor  of  immortality.  The  heart  of  the 
redeemed  will  expand  and  expatiate  in  the  ocean-full- 
ness of  divine  love.  He  who  redeemed  them  is  in  the 
midst  of  them,  and  will  lead  them  to  the  fountains  of 
living  waters.  New  views  of  his  redeeming  love,  new 
and  fresh  visions  of  his  adorable  person,  fresh  and  ever- 
deeper  disclosures  of  the  mercy  which  pitied  and  the 
power  which  glorified  them,  shall  break  forth  upon 
tlieir  enraptured  minds ;  they  shall  praise,  love  and 
adore  him  for  ever  in  his  holy  temple. 


72  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

Their  intellectual  faculties  will  be  enlarged  and  puri- 
fied. Before  them  shall  lie  the  whole  circle  of  creation, 
the  system  of  Providence  and  the  character  and  attri- 
butes of  God.  His  wisdom,  love  and  power  they  shall 
be  able  to  trace  in  the  mysteries  of  nature  and  provi- 
dence, which  are  now  hid  from  human  eyes.  Newton 
has  by  this  time  left  his  Prmcipia  far  behind  him,  and 
Milton  could  publish  a  new  and  improved  edition  of 
Paradise  Regained.  The  enjoyments  of  the  mind  must 
make  up  a  great  part  of  the  blessedness  of  heaven.  The 
freed  and  expanded  reason  will  no  doubt  delight  in 
tracing  the  laws  of  the  material  universe  and  the  su- 
preme wisdom  which  ordained  them,  the  rise  and 
progress  of  the  various  kingdoms  and  empires,  nations 
and  races,  which  constitute  the  dominion  of  God ;  in 
tracing  the  wisdom,  love  and  goodness  of  the  Creator  in 
every  department  of  being,  from  the  insect  on  earth  to 
the  seraph  before  the  throne.  Oh  what  a  field  for  the 
intellect !  what  fruits  of  wisdom  and  knowledge  to  be 
gathered  by  the  imaginative  mind! 

Nor  are  we  to  forget  the  enjoyments  of  the  body, 
which  will  then  be  in  perfect  harmony  with  the 
volitions  of  the  mind.  Jesus  has  taken  our  body 
into  heaven,  immortal  and  glorified,  and  we  are  to 
be  raised  from  the  dead  in  the  likeness  of  his  glory. 
The  soul  is  not  the  man,  but  a  part  of  the  man,  and 
can  never  be  perfect  till  united  with  the  perfected 
body  on  the  morning  of  the  resurrection.  They  were 
made  for  each  other,  and  their  separation  by  death  is 
the  most  frightful,  unnatural  and  diabolical  thing  in  the 
universe,  save  sin,  which  is  its  cause.  Shall  there  be 
710  music  to  charm  the  ear  in  the  sanctuary  above  ?  or 
shall    the  redeemed  delight  in   the  beauty   of  nature 


CHAPTER    I.     VERSES  7-14.  73 

no  more  ?  No,  verily  ;  but  the  ear  shall  be  made  per- 
fect, and  there  shall  be  perfect  music  to  fill  it,  and 
the  eye  shall  enlarge  its  vision,  and  the  whole  body, 
with  all  its  senses  and  sympathies,  shall  be  made 
worthy  of  its  place  and  destiny — worthy  of  creative 
wisdom  and  redeeming  love. 

Then  what  enjoyments  must  flow  from  out  fellowship 
with  God  and  the  E-edeemer,  through  the  Holy  Ghost, 
the  Comforter,  with  the  angels  of  light  and  the  Church 
of  the  first-born  !  Ah  me !  how  the  weary  heart  longs 
sometimes  for  all  this !  how  earthly  glory  grows  dim 
when  we  think  of  it !  how  the  poor  soul  in  such  seasons 
gets  eagle-glances  of  her  destiny  before  the  time  and  all 
but  love  and  life  fade  from  her  enraptured  vision ! 

Third.  It  is  very  important  to  observe  the  force  of 
the  two  little  words,  in  ivhom,  which  connect  the  in- 
heritance with  Christ.  Take  in  to  be  synonymous 
with  "  through  " — which  it  often  is  (Matt.  xvii.  21 ; 
Gal.  iii.  11 ;  2  Tim.  ii.  10) — and  the  meaning  is 
"  through  Jesus  we  obtain  the  inheritance ;"  or  take 
it,  as  is  still  more  natural,  to  denote  "  unity,"  "  locality," 
"oneness,"  and  the  sense  is  still  more  sublime.  Our 
inheritance  is  in  him;  we  seek  no  fountain  but  his 
love,  no  excellency  save  in  his  person,  no  hope  save 
in  his  promises,  no  glory  save  that  of  being  with  him 
and  like  him  for  ever  (1  John  iii.  1-5).  He  is  our 
inheritance.  We  can  say  with  still  greater  fervor  and 
fullness  than  the  venerable  Psalmist,  "Whom  have 
I  in  heaven  but  tliee  ?  and  there  is  none  upon  earth 
that  I  desire  beside  thee"  (Ps.  Ixxiii.  25).  To  the 
mind  of  the  apostle  everything  good  and  noble  and 
beautiful  is  so  only  by  its  union  with  Christ,  its  being 
from  him  or  leading  to  him. 

10 


74  GEAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

Fourth,  This  inheritance  is  obtained  by  those  "  who 
are  predestinated  according  to  the  purpose  of  him  who 
worheth  all  things  after  the  counsel  of  his  own  will" 
(ver.  11).  The  apostle  here  returns  to  the  eternal 
purpose  of  God,  of  which  he  had  spoken  in  the  fourth 
verse.  He  sees  the  original  cause  of  human  salvation 
in  the  free  sovereign  will  of  God,  and  he  loses  no  op- 
portunity of  rejDeating  and  insisting  upon  this  hum- 
bling doctrine  of  free  grace.  We  had  forfeited  all ; 
and  if  deliverance  be  possible,  it  must  flow  from  the 
divine  mercy. 

Fifth.  But  this  inheritance  is  to  work  a  certain  end 
and  disposition  in  us,  '  that  we  should  he  to  the  praise 
of  his  gloryT  The  glory  of  God  is  the  final  cause 
of  the  whole  dispensation,  and  all  things  in  nature 
and  grace  must  contribute  to  that  end. 

The  we  in  the  twelfth  verse  is  opposed  to  the  ye  in 
the  thirteenth,  and  a  contrast  is  clearly  intended ;  but 
who  the  parties  are  is  not  so  easily  made  out.  Some 
take  the  we  to  be  the  Jews  and  tlie  ye  the  Gentiles, 
thus :  "  We,  the  Jewish  nation,  hoped  in  Christ  from  the 
beginning ;  we  were  the  first  in  whom  the  promise  of 
deliverance  took  root,  and  God  has  given  us  the  inher- 
itance, that  we  should  be  to  the  praise  of  his  glory ; 
and  now  ye.  Gentiles,  have  also  been  brought  to  believe 
in  him  by  the  preaching  of  the  gospel."  This  exposi- 
tion is  improbable.  Others  expound  it  thus :  "  We, 
the  first  Jewish  Christians,  are  to  the  praise  of  his 
glory ;  we  were  the  first  to  acknowledge  him  as  the 
Messiah,  the  Son  of  God.  The  apostles  were  all 
Jews;  the  early  Christian  Church  was  mainly  made 
uj)  of  Jewish  converts.  We  trusted  in  Christ  before 
you  Gentiles,  and  now  ye  also  are  brought  to  the  faith 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES  7-14.  76 

by  the  word  of  the  gospel."  Here  the  two  parties  are 
the  Jewish  and  the  Gentile  converts,  and  this,  I  believe, 
is  the  meaning  of  the  passage.  De  Wette,  on  the 
other  hand,  denies  that  there  is  any  reference  to 
Jewish  or  Gentile  Christians  in  the  passage,  and  so 
do  many  others.  According  to  Harless  and  Olshausen, 
the  phrase  "  to  the  praise  of  his  glory,''  instead  of  being 
the  end  to  which  all  points,  is  a  mere  parenthetical 
explanatory  clause,  and  the  sentence  is  made  to  give 
this  sense :  "  We  were  predestinated  to  be  those  who 
(to  the  praise  of  his  glory)  first  trusted  in  Christ," 
making  the  purpose  of  verse  12  terminate  in  the  call- 
ing and  endowment  of  the  Jewish  Church.  But,  in 
the  first  place,  this  gives  a  weak  and  insufficient  final 
cause  for  the  eternal  purpose  of  God  ;  and,  secondly, 
"  to  the  praise  of  his  glory,''  in  verse  14  and  verse  6, 
has  nothing  of  the  nature  of  an  explanatory  clause, 
and  it  is  arbitrary  to  make  it  such  here.  Besides,  it 
seems  quite  foreign  to  the  purpose  of  the  apostle  in 
this  chapter  to  refer,  and  in  such  terms,  to  the  peculiar 
j)rivileges  of  the  Jewish  nation.  I  believe  the  sentence 
ends  with  verse  12,  and  in  verse  13  a  new  sentence 
and  a  new  subject  begin,  comprehending  the  thirteenth 
and  fourteenth  verses. 

The  connection  of  the  passage  is  difficult,  and  the 
train  of  thought  so  broken  that,  without  violence  to 
the  words,  it  is  not  easy  to  make  out  a  clear,  consistent 
meaning.  Grotius  indeed  asserts  that  the  apostle  is 
so  full  of  his  great  theme  that  he  pays  no  attention 
to  grammatical  construction :  "Apostoli  minutas  illas 
eonstructionis  regulas  non  curabant  {itaque  genera  casus, 
pronomena  scepe  commutahaat !)  verhorwn  incuriosi, 
quum  tantcB  res   mentem  ambirent."      If  this  were  so 


76  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

to  any  considerable  extent,  the  word  of  God  would 
certainly  be  unintelligible,  and  the  idea  of  inspiration 
would  be  preposterous. 

The  train  of  thought  in  the  mind  of  the  apostle  was 
probably  something  like  the  following  :  "  Jesus  is  the 
universal  Head  (ver.  10),  and  the  whole  creation  is  re- 
established and  recapitulated  in  him.  In  him  also  we 
(the  early  apostolic  Church)  have  obtained  our  inherit- 
ance (ver.  11).  In  this  universal  Headship  he  has  not 
forgotten  his  believing  people,  but  has  ordained  them 
to  be  to  the  praise  of  his  glory ;  and,  following  the 
law  of  his  universal  kingdom,  he  has  honored  most 
those  who  loved  and  labored  most,  even  those  Jewish 
Christians  who  before  all  others  believed  in  him  and 
followed  him."  Now,  this  is  a  great  fact,  and  the 
history  of  the  Church  confirms  it.  Salvation  is  of 
the  Jews ;  the  twelve  apostles  were  all  Jews ;  all  the 
books  of  the  New  Testament  were  written  by  Jews  ; 
all  inspiration  is  from  them ;  and  the  churches  of  the 
risen  Saviour  were  all  founded  by  the  twelve  apostles 
of  the  Lamb.  Surely  these  facts  make  the  twelfth 
verse  clear  and  intelligible.  Jesus  was  the  Foundation- 
stone  of  the  temple,  and  he  was  a  Jew,  and  it  pleased 
him  to  have  the  course  next  him  JewB  also.  This  is 
a  great  honor,  and  it  is  given  them  because  they  first 
trusted  in  Christ ;  and  many,  with  Sir  Isaac  Newton 
and  Joseph  Mede,  believe  that  the  last  course  before 
the  top-stone  will  be  Jew8  also;  so  that,  as  those  who 
first  believed  after  his  coming  in  flesh  were  Jews,  those 
who  shall  last  believe  before  his  coming  in  glory  will 
be  Jews  also.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  twelfth  verse 
seems  to  teach  that  the  Jewish  believers  have  a  peculiar 
honor,  and  this  honor  is  because  they/>-6'^  believed  in 


CHAPTER    I.     VERSES  7-14.  77 

Christ.  This  is  very  naturaL  The  Moslems  honor 
"  the  companions  of  the  prophet "  above  all  others, 
and  Ali,  the  first  believer,  became  the  hero  and 
demigod  of  the  nation.  We,  with  better  reason,  refer 
to  the  early  apostolic  C'hurch  as  the  mother  and 
mistress  of  all  churches ;  and  on  the  whole  earth 
there  has  never  been  any  society  so  noble,  so  vigor- 
ous, so  full  of  life  and  fearless  in  the  hour  of  danger, 
so  firm  and  triumphant  in  persecution  and  death,  as 
that  heroic  band.  They  were  to  the  praise  of  his 
glory.  They  followed  Christ  first  and  closest  and 
farthest.  This  was  their  highest  honor.  So  is  it 
always :  faith  brings  honor,  and  strong  faith,  in  evil 
times,  brings  si^ecial  honor.  God  does  not  respect 
the  pomps  and  splendors  of  the  world.  He  infinite- 
ly magnifies  the  moral  over  the  natural  by  the  call- 
ing and  endowments  of  the  apostolic  Church.  He 
shows  thereby  clearly  to  all  men  that  faith,  holiness, 
purity,  are  the  characteristics  of  the  Church  and  peo- 
ple which  he  delighteth  to  honor.  Be  it  ours  to  follow 
this  heroic  band  !  Be  their  faith,  their  fortitude,  their 
victory,  ours !  Their  life  was  battle,  their  death  was 
victory,  their  reward  was  glory.  Trust !  trust !  trust 
the  Lord  for  his  promised  aid,  and  keep  the  apos- 
tolic Church  still  before  you !  Jesus  is  the  same  yes- 
terday and  to-day  and  for  ever.  All  things  are  yours, 
and  ye  are  Christ's,  and  Christ  is  God's. 

But  we  come  now  to  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
verses,  which  tell  us  of — 

IV.  The  Sealing  of  the  Spirit. 
In  whom  ye  also  ti'usted,  after  that  ye  heard  the  word, 
of  truth,  the  gospel  of  your  salvation :  in  whom  ako 


78  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANB. 

after  that  ye  believed,  ye  were  sealed  loith  that  holy 
Spirit  of  promise,  which  is  the  earnest  of  our  inherit- 
ance until  the  redemption  of  the  purchased  possession, 
unto  the  |j?'a/5e  of  his  glory  (ver.  13,  14). 

In  whom  ye  also.  The  word  trusted  is  supplied  by 
Beza,  our  translators  and  others,  and  this  makes  good 
sense  and  gives  the  spirit  of  the  passage.  Meyer  sup- 
plies the  substantive  verb,  and  reads,  "  In  whom  ye 
are,"  building  upon  all  the  passages  in  which  the  be- 
lievers are  said  to  be  in  Christ.  He  stands  alone  in 
this,  so  far  as  I  know.  Very  many  translators  sup- 
ply the  words  from  the  eleventh  verse,  and  read  thus : 
"  In  whom  ye  also  have  obtained  an  inheritance."  I 
believe  all  such  additions  are  unnecessary,  and  that 
the  second  vn  ivhom  (which  can  never,  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  Hebrew,  mean  "  inasmuch  as,"  as  Morus 
thought)  is  a  repetition  of  the  first,  to  make  the  mean- 
ing clearer,  after  the  first  member  of  the  sentence  had 
been  given.  The  whole  sentence  runs  thus :  "  In  whom 
ye  also,  after  that  you  heard  the  word  of  truth,  the  gos- 
pel of  your  salvation  (I  say),  in  whom  also,  after  that 
ye  believed,  ye  were  sealed  with  the  Holy  Spirit  of 
promise."  The  second  in  whom,  like  the  first,  refers 
to  Christ,  in  whom  the  Jewish  Christians  first  trusted 
(v.  12).  But,  leaving  these  small  points  of  criticism 
(their  name  is  Legion),  let  us  attend  to  the  substance 
of  the  apostolic  utterance. 

First.  The  names  which  the  apostle  gives  the  gospel 
are  important.  It  is  the  gospel  of  your  salvation,  be- 
cause it  is  the  only  means  revealed  to  man  of  escaping 
the  wrath  to  come ;  it  is  also  called  the  word  of  truth, 
because  all  its  statements,  promises  and  prophecies  are 
true  and  faithful,  like  God,  its  Author.     A  great  man 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES  7-14.  79 

has  uttered  a  great  truth  in  saying,  "  It  has  God  for  its 
Author,  salvation  for  its  end,  and  truth,  without  mix- 
ture of  error,  for  its  contents."  It  is  the  power  of  God 
unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  believeth  (Rom.  i.  16), 
and  none  that  rested  upon  its  promises  were  ever  put 
to  shame.  Salvation  and  truth  are  necessarily  con- 
nected together  in  the  mind  of  the  apostle,  and  we 
should  never  seek  to  dissever  them.  Eri'or  can  never 
sanctify  us  or  fit  us  for  meeting  God.  The  j^rayer  of 
our  heavenly  Master  is,  "  Sanctify  them  by  thy  truth, 
thy  word  is  truth."  His  own  name,  like  that  of  his 
gospel  is  "  the  Truth,^'  and  the  enemy  whose  works  he 
came  to  destroy  is  ''  the  liar  from  the  beginning  who 
abode  not  in  the  truth."  Stand  fast,  then,  for  the 
truth,  as  your  fathers  did ;  and  for  which,  too,  some 
of  them  died  at  the  stake.  They  held  by  the  gospel 
and  rejected  the  superstitious  additions  and  command- 
ments of  men.  Do  you  the  same.  There  is  an  infi- 
delity which  rejects  all,  and  there  is  a  superstition 
that  swallows  down  all :  reject  them  both  and  hold 
by  the  Bible,  as  your  fathers  did. 

Second.  The  first  d/uty  on  hearing  the  gospel  is  faith, 
and  until  this  is  established  no  future  blessing  can  be 
expected.  This  is  necessary,  not  because  the  giving  of 
the  gifts  is  connected  with  faith,  but  because  the  receiv- 
ing of  them  is.  The  fountain  may  be  opened  for  us  in 
the  wilderness,  but  we  may  neither  feel  our  need  of 
it  nor  believe  that  it  is  there ;  we  may  refuse  to  look 
though  the  serpent  be  lifted  up.  Faith  is  the  organ 
which  connects  us  with  God  and  Christ  and  the  real- 
ities of  eternity.  Till  faith  comes  the  gospel  is  a  dead 
letter,  a  theory  merely.  Its  heat  does  not  warm  us, 
its  light  does  not  shine  into  our  hearts,  its  voice  of 


80  GKAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

mercy  falls  on  a  cold  ear.  The  Ephesians  believed 
the  gospel  when  they  heard  it — viz.,  a  few  scattered, 
despised  people  in  the  great  city  of  Ephesus  did  so ;  for 
the  multitudes  of  that  luxurious  capital  were  too  much 
1)ent  on  the  pleasures  of  the  world  to  think  of  Calvary 
or  the  forgiveness  of  sins  or  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead  and  judgment  to  come.  The  carnal  mind  was,  and 
is,  enmity  against  God ;  and  if  any  man  love  the  world, 
the  love  of  the  Father  is  not  in  him.  These  are  terri- 
ble sayings,  though  men  heed  them  but  little.  When 
faith  comes,  it  alters  all  things.  It  places  us  in  a  new 
and  entirely  different  position.  A  new  scene  of  sur- 
passing beauty  begins  to  dawn  when  the  spirit  is  in 
the  semi-slumber  of  awakening  consciousness ;  it  dis- 
cerns— indistinctly,  it  may  be,  like  Paul  when  smitten 
to  the  earth  near  Damascus — in  the  luminous  future  the 
form  of  the  Son  of  man,  still  as  tender  and  as  loving 
as  when  he  died ;  new  and  fresh  hopes  bud  and  fructify 
in  the  soul  as  we  apprehend  more  and  more  clearly 
the  nature  of  the  gospel,  and  faith,  strengthened  and 
enlarged  by  exercise,  becomes  the  dominant  principle 
of  our  lives.  We  live  by  faith.  The  life  that  comes 
from  the  smitten  rock  flows  into  us  and  returns  again 
to  its  source  in  the  forms  of  thanksgiving  and  praise. 
Jesus  is  now  the  home  of  our  hearts ;  all  our  affections 
naturally  centre  in  him.  The  seeds  of  life  are  sown 
in  our  hearts,  and  the  office  of  the  Comforter  is  to 
water  and  fructify  them.  Heaven  is  begun  and  the 
first  principles  of  the  kingdom  of  God  are  established 
within  us.  Now  we  have  an  anchor  to  hold  us  in  the 
storms ;  we  have  a  great,  noble  end  in  view,  and  all 
things  are  subsidiary  to  it.  Joy  and  sorrow,  wealth 
and  poverty,  the  changes  of  fortune,  life  and   death. 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES  7-14.  81 

are  mere  accidents  which  our  Master,  for  our  good, 
dis])enses  as  he  pleases;  but  the  living  principle 
which  animates  our  entire  life  is  that,  whether  ab- 
sent or  present,  we  may  be  accepted  of  Him  (2  Cor. 
V.9). 

Third.  Let  us  now  contemplate  the  sealing,  which 
comes  before  us  in  these  words :  '^ After  that  ye  believed, 
ye  tvere  sealed  with  that  holy  Spirit  of  jtromiser  The 
progress  of  the  divine  purpose  in  the  soul  is  the  follow- 
ing :  The  election,  the  hearing  of  the  word,  faith,  bap- 
tism, and,  finally,  the  sealing  of  the  Spirit  (Acts  ii. 
37-39 ;  viii.  12,  15, 17  ;  xix.  5-7).  (Comp.  Tit.  iii.  5 ; 
Gal.  iii.  2.)  The  only  example  of  the  sealing  of  the 
Spirit  before  baptism  is  Acts  x.  44,*  and  is  given,  prob- 
ably, to  show  that  God  is  not  bound  to  ordinances,  but 
works  when  and  where  and  in  whom  he  pleases.  The 
Holy  Spirit  works  indeed  in  giving  faith  (Acts  xvi.  14) ; 
yet  this  gracious  o^^eration  is  only  preliminary  and  sub- 
sidiary to  the  sealing.  This,  in  the  apostolic  times, 
was  often  accompanied  with  signs  and  wonders  and 
the  gift  of  tongues,  as  we  see  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles (ii.  4  ;  viii.  15  ;  xix.  5,  Q).  I  do  not  say  that  these 
signs  are  necessary  at  all  times  to  the  sealing  of  the 
Spirit,  for  they  ceased  since  the  apostolic  age,  and  even 
then  the  inward  fruits  of  righteousness,  the  love  of 
God  and  the  Saviour,  which  the  Spirit  works  in  the 
heart — the  righteousness  and  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy 
Ghost — were  the  real  sealing,  and  much  more  import- 
ant essentially  than  the  power  to  cast  out  devils,  raise 
the  dead  or  speak  with  tongues.  We  may  say,  in  gen- 
eral, love  is  nobler  than  power — the  permanent  fruit 
of  the  Spirit  in  the  Church — a  nobler  seal  than  the 

*  When  Peter  preached  Christ  to  Cornelius  and  his  f^iend^^. 
11 


82  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

manifestations  of  Sinai  or  the  miracles  of  the  primi- 
tive Church. 

But  what  is  this  seal  ?  A  seal  is  a  signet  or  a  signet- 
ring  used  by  kings  and  others  for  various  important 
ends,  some  of  which  we  shall  now  mention.  (1)  A  seal 
was  attached  to  letters  to  give  them  the  royal  authority  ; 
and  so  the  Church  is  the  epistle  of  Christ,  known  and 
read  of  all  men  (2  Cor.  iii.  3).  The  gifts  and  graces  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  are  the  seal  of  God  upon  this  epistle 
of  his  mercy,  where  the  nations  of  the  world  and  the 
angels  of  heaven  may  read  his  manifold  wisdom  (Eph. 
iii.  10).  (2)  A  seal  is  used  to  secure  the  possession  of 
property  (E,om.  xv.  28)  and  to  show  that  it  belongs  to 
a  particular  master,  and  no  other.  It  has  his  seal. 
Jesus  Christ  has  purchased  his  people  with  his  own 
precious  blood,  and  the  sealing  of  the  Spirit  is  the  mark 
that  they  belong  to  him.  They  are  safe,  for  they  are 
sealed  with  his  seal,  and  they  shall  never  perish,  nor 
shall  any  pluck  them  out  of  his  hand.  (3)  As  the 
seal  is  the  conclusion  of  the  letter  or  the  agreement,  so 
it  signifies  often  the  last,  the  e7id,  the  perfection  ;  thus 
the  Moslems  call  Mohammed  the  seal  of  the  prophets 
— viz.,  the  last  and  most  glorious  of  them.  In  this  re- 
spect, also,  the  sealing  of  the  Spirit  is  full  of  meaning. 
He  is  the  last  of  the  heavenly  witnesses,  and  to  blas- 
pheme him  is  certain  destruction.  The  Father  has 
manifested  his  love  to  us  in  the  gift  of  his  Son ;  on  the 
cross,  in  the  great  atonement,  the  Son  has  manifested 
his  love  and  grace  to  the  children  of  men.  If  we  reject 
this  double  testimony  of  grace,  there  is  still  another 
voice  to  call  us  to  God,  even  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  in 
the  divine  economy  comes  after  the  Son  as  the  last  and 
ever-abiding  Comforter  of  the  Church.     He  is  the  last 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES  7-14.  83 

gieat  gift  of  God,  the  seal  of  the  living  God  upon  the 
vessels  fitted  for  the  Master's  use.  What  the  Father 
originates  and  the  Son  carries  on  tlie  Holy  Spirit  per- 
fects. The  Father  elects,  the  Son  redeems,  the  Holy 
Spirit  sanctifies,  seals  and  glorifies  the  Church.  (See 
Ezek.  xxviii.  12;  Dan.  ix.  2,  in  Heb.)  These  may  be 
taken  as  illustrating  the  work  of  the  Spirit  in  sealing 
us  unto  the  day  of  redemption. 

The  text  plainly  teaches  that  the  sealing  is  something 
different  from  the  Spirit's  work  in  producing  faith ;  for 
it  is  said,  ^^ After  that  ye  believed,  ye  were  sealed  with  that 
holy  Spirit  of  promise.'"  We  see  the  sealing  of  the 
Spirit,  therefore,  in  the  growth  of  the  divine  life  in  the 
soul,  in  the  ripening  of  the  fruits  of  righteousness,  in 
the  full  assurance  of  faith  and  the  growing  conformity 
to  the  image  of  God.  There  are  various  steps  or  de- 
grees in  the  inner  kingdom  of  righteousness,  peace  and 
joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  We  hear  the  word,  which  is 
the  first  step ;  we  believe  it,  which  is  the  second  ;  by 
baptism  we  are  incorporated  with  the  body  of  Christ, 
and  that  is  another  ;  the  sealing  of  the  Spirit  now  ripens 
us  for  the  heavenly  garner ;  then  death  brings  us  an- 
other step  nearer  the  destiny  that  awaits  us ;  then 
comes  the  advent,  which  is  the  resurrection  from  the 
dead  and  gives  us  the  final  blessedness  in  all  its  full- 
ness and  glory. 

Fourth.  He  is  called  in  our  text  "  that  holy  Spirit  of 
promise."  The  Land  of  Promise  means  the  Promised 
Land ;  the  receiving  of  the  promise  of  the  Spirit  (Acts  ii. 
33)  means  receiving  the  effusion  of  the  promised  Spirit, 
and  so  we  are  to  interpret  here ;  the  promise  is  taken 
for  the  thing  promised.  (Comp.  Gal.  iii.  14.)  We  are, 
therefore,  thrown  back  upon  the  Old  Testament,  where 


84  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

the  Holy  Spirit  is  proms  d  to  mankind  (Jwelii.  28-32  ; 
Isa.  xliii.  3;  Eze -:.  xxx  x.  2i) ;  Zech,  xii,  10).  He  is 
indeed  called,  in  Acts  i.  4,  the  promise  of  the  Father, 
because  it  was  the  pur2:)ose  of  the  Father  to  give  him 
to  the  faithful.  Thus  the  Jewish  nation  were  the  de- 
pository of  two  great  promises  which  in  the  fullness  of 
time  were  made  over  to  the  Gentiles — the  j)romise  of 
redemj)tion  through  the  Son,  and  the  promise  of  sanc- 
tification  through  the.  Spirit,  of  God. 

But,  it  may  be  asked,  to  whom  is  this  promise  given? 
It  is  to  thee,  brother,  and  to  me ;  to  all  that  are  weary 
and  heavy-laden — yea,  to  all  that  are  ignorant  and  re- 
bellious (Ps.  Ixviii.  18  ;  Acts  ii.  4,  33).  Read  also  Luke 
xi.  5-13,  and  see  how  good  and  how  tender,  how  loving 
and  how  earnest,  is  thy  heavenly  Father.  How  full 
and  free  his  grace !  Ask !  seek !  knock !  and  your 
Father  shall  give  you  his  Holy  Spirit.  His  love  is 
free,  and  the  water  of  life  is  without  money  and  with- 
out price.  The  two  great  promises  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment are  fulfilled :  the  L'lmb  is  slain,  and  the  Com- 
forter is  come.  The  veil  is  rent  in  the  cross,  and  the 
Church  is  sanctified  and  sealed  by  the  Comforter. 

Fifth.  For  the  eaimest  of  the  inheritance  (ver.  14) 
see  2  Cor.  i.  22 ;  v.  5,  where,  as  in  our  text,  it  is  con- 
nected with  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  word  here  used  for 
earnest  is  the  Hebrew  arahon,  which  means  a  pledge 
(Gen.  xxxviii.  17-20)  given  to  make  sure  all  that  is 
23romised.  This,  then,  is  the  mind  of  God  in  the  seal- 
ing of  the  Spirit  and  in  the  Pentecostal  effusion — viz., 
to  give  the  redeemed  Cliurch  a  foretaste  and  pledge  of 
the  future  inheritance.  The  which  here  should  be  ren- 
dered "  who,"  as  it  necessarily  refers  to  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Nor  is  the  Greek  masculine  to  be  accounted  for  simply 


CHAPTER    I.     VERJ^ES  7-14.  85 

by  the  rule  called  attraction,  but  the  apostle  prefers  the 
sense  to  the  mere  form.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  masculine, 
though  the  woi'd  in  Greek  is  neuter ;  and  the  apostle 
makes  the  pronoun  agree  with  the  person  rather  than 
with  the  form.  Luther  does  the  same  very  often  in  his 
translation.  Weib,  "  wife,"  "  woman,"  is  a  word  of  the 
neuter  gender ;  yet  Luther  follows  the  sense,  and  con- 
nects it  with  feminine  relations  and  pronouns.  But 
this  passage  teaches  clearly  that  the  inheritance  shall 
consist  mainly  in  Christian  joy,  in  likeness  to  the  Sav- 
iour and  in  communion  with  the  Holy  Ghost.  The 
earnest  must  be  of  the  same  kind  as  the  inheritance 
which  it  secures  for  us ;  the  first-fruits  must  be  of  the 
same  nature  as  the  harvest ;  and  the  whole  family  must 
resemble  the  First-Born.  The  Comforter  is  the  pledge 
and  the  foretaste  of  future  glory ;  and  therefore  this 
whole  dispensation,  called  the  dispensation  of  the 
Spirit,  is  but  preparatory  to  that  which  is  perfect  and 
perpetual.  A  universal  Pentecost  would  not  be  the 
promised  inheritance,  but  only  a  foretaste  and  first- 
fruit  of  it. 

Sixth.  Hence  the  earnest  is  "  until  the  redemption  of 
the  purchased  possession^  This  possession  is  no  other 
than  the  Church  which  he  has  purchased  with  his 
blood,  and  which  is  yet  to  be  redeemed  from  the 
power  of  the  enemy  and  the  corruption  of  the  grave. 
There  is  a  redemption  by  py^ice  by  the  dying  Lamb  of 
God,  which  is  past,  and  we  are  indeed  redeemed ; 
there  is  a  redemption  by  power  by  the  King  and  the 
Judge,  which  is  future,  and  we  wait  for  the  adoption, 
which  is  the  resurrection  of  the  body.  This  is  the 
coming  of  Christ  in  glory  and  majesty  for  which  we 
long  and  pray  constantly,  for  which,  too,  the  saints  in 


86  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

heaven  wait  patiently,  and  for  which  the  whole  fallen 
creation  groaneth  and  travaileth  together  in  pain  until 
now  (Rom.  viii.).  This  is  the  redemption  mentioned 
in  our  text,  when  the  purchased  possession  shall  be  re- 
deemed from  the  power  of  the  devil,  from  the  contagion 
of  sin  and  the  dominion  of  the  grave.  U7itil  shows 
how  long  the  earnest  is  to  continue,  and  unto  shows 
that  the  redemption  of  the  purchased  possession  itself 
is  for  the  praise  of  the  glory  of  God.  What  we  look 
for  is  the  final  redemption,  and  this  redemption  is  to  be 
for  the  praise  of  the  glory  of  God.  His  glory  is  the 
end  of  creation,  providence  and  redemption.  For  this 
all  things  were  created,  are  redeemed  and  are  to  be 
headed  up  in  Christ.  * 

Seventh.  Better  will  it  be,  in  conclusion,  to  survey 
once  more  the  glorious  theme  on  which  the  apostle 
dwells  with  such  delight.  There  is  more  valuable 
matter,  more  substantial  truth,  contained  in  our  pas- 
sage (ver.  7-14)  than  in  all  the  literature  of  the  Greeks 
and  Komans  from  the  earliest  times — than  in  all  the 
secular  historians  of  the  world.  The  subject  is  high 
and  the  range  of  thought  exceedingly  extensive,  for  he 
discourses  of  reconciliation  with  God,  the  atonement  of 
Christ  and  the  gathering  together  all  things  in  heaven 
and  on  the  earth  under  one  glorious  Head.  The  be- 
liever, too,  is  remembered  in  this  all-comprehending 
theme  as  the  sealed  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  for  whom  the 
everlasting  inheritance  is  prepared.  The  Spirit  is  him- 
self the  pledge  of  that  inheritance ;  and  we  may  well 

*  This  subject  ends  with  the  fourteenth  verse;  and  if  any  one  wishes 
to  see  the  endless  diversities  of  opinion  that  prevail  concerning  "  the 
purchased  possession,"  he  may  consult  the  German  commentators,  where 
he  may  get  full  satisfaction. 


CHAPTER    I.     VERSES  7-14.  87 

cry  with  Saint  Jerome,  "  Si  aiThabo  tantus,  quanta  erit 
possessio  /"  ("  If  the  earnest  be  such,  what  shall  the 
possession  be  ?")  Does  it  not,  tlien,  give  us  some  in- 
sight into  the  depth  of  God's  love  to  us  when  we  see 
him  electing,  redeeming  and  glorifying  us  in  such  a 
divine  and  wonderful  manner?  Jesus  Christ  is  the 
Head  of  the  Church  and  the  creation,  and  through 
him  every  needy  creature  may  come  to  the  fountains  of 
God — the  fountains  of  mercy,  which  sin  had  sealed, 
but  which,  in  Jesus,  are  now  opened  to  the  thirsty 
world.  Brother-man,  this  is  a  great  truth.  Here  is 
life  and  peace  and  joy  for  you  and  for  me.  Here  is  a 
foundation  on  which  you  need  not  fear  to  rest  for  the 
future,  a  lifeboat  that  can  bear  you  over  the  sea  of 
death  into  the  city  of  your  God.  There  is  redemp- 
tion in  his  blood,  even  the  forgiveness  of  sins ;  and 
it  is  held  out  freely  to  thee,  my  brother,  and  to  me. 
His  Spirit  says,  "  Come,"  and  whosoever  will,  let 
him  come  and  take  of  the  water  of  life  freely. 

"  O  God,  whose  wondrous  name  is  Love, 
Whose  hands  have  fashioned  us  anew, 

Before  thy  face  now  stands  the  Lamb 
Whom  sinful  man  once  pierced  and  slew. 

Thine  own  dear  Son  thou  didst  not  spare : 

How  shalt  thou  cease  for  us  to  care? 

"  Thou  art  the  potter,  we  the  clay ; 

Thy  will  be  ours,  thy  truth  our  light, 
Thy  love  the  fountain  of  our  joy, 

Thine  arm  a  safeguard  day  and  night, 
Till  thou  shalt  wipe  our  tears  away 
And  Jesus  bring  eternal  day !" 


CHAPTER   III. 

Wherefore  I  also,  after  I  heard  of  your  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus,  and 
love  unto  all  the  saints,  cease  not  to  give  thanks  for  you,  making  men- 
tion of  you  in  my  prayers ;  that  the  God  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Father  of  glory,  may  give  unto  you  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  revelation 
in  the  knowledge  of  him  :  the  eyes  of  your  understanding  being  enlight- 
ened ;  that  ye  may  know  what  is  the  hope  of  his  calling,  and  what  the 
riches  of  the  glory  of  his  inheritance  in  the  saints,  and  what  is  the 
exceeding  greatness  of  his  power  to  usward  who  believe,  according  to 
the  working  of  his  mighty  power,  which  he  wrought  in  Christ,  when  he 
raised  him  from  the  dead,  and  set  him  at  his  own  right  hand  in  the 
heavenly  places,  far  above  all  principality,  and  power,  and  might,  and 
dominion,  and  every  name  that  is  named,  not  only  in  this  world,  but 
also  in  that  which  is  to  come :  and  hath  put  all  things  under  his  feet, 
and  gave  him  to  be  the  Head  over  all  things  to  the  Church,  which  is 
his  body,  the  fullness  of  him  that  filleth  all  in  all. — Ephesians  i. 
15-23. 

The  apostle,  in  the  first  part  of  our  chapter,  gives 
us  the  salutation  and  introduction,  and  now,  in  the 
fifteenth  and  following  verses,  we  have  his  prayer. 

This  was  his  customary  method  (Phil.  i.  3;  Rom. 
i.  8 ;  1  Cor.  i.  4 ;  Col.  i.  3 ;  1  Thess.  i.  2 ;  2  Thess.  i.  3), 
and  the  practice  is  well  worthy  of  imitation.  Prayer 
sweetens  the  relations  of  human  life,  and  is  in  itself 
infinitely  desirable  altogether  apart  from  the  blessings 
which  it  draws  down  from  heaven.  It  opens  the  heart 
when  it  is  shut  up  and  hardened,  while  it  disposes  us 
to  mildness,  forgiveness  and  brotherly  love.  We  need 
guidance  in  everything,  and  hence  we  should  begin 
everything   with    prayer.      Wherever    the    spirit    of 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES   15-23.  89 

prayer  abounds  we  may  expect  peace  and  all  the 
fruits  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  whole  Bible  is  per- 
vaded with  the  deepest,  lowliest  spirit  of  prayer,  and 
in  this  it  is  distinguished  from  other  books.  We 
breathe  there  a  heavenly  atmosphere,  and  feel  ourselves 
at  every  turn  brought  into  contact  with  God. 

Head  the  following  examples,  that  your  mind  and 
heart  may  be  tranquillized  with  the  spirit  of  prayer : 
The  prayers  of  Jesus,  John  xi.  41 ;  xvii.  1,  etc. ;  of 
Zacharias,  Luke  i.  13 ;  of  Amos,  Amos  vii.  2-5 ;  of 
Esther,  Esth.  iv.  16 ;  of  Nehemiah,  Neh.  ix.  5 ;  of 
Ezra,  Ezra  ix.  6 ;  of  Asa,  2  Chron.  xiv.  11 ;  of  Jonah, 
Jonah  ii.  1,  etc. ;  of  Daniel,  Dan.  ix.  3 ;  of  Manasseh, 
2  Chron.  xxxiii.  12 ;  of  Hezekiah,  2  Kings  xix.  15 ; 
of  Solomon,  1  Kings  viii.  22 ;  of  David,  2  Sam.  vii. 
18,  and  the  Psalms  generally ;  of  Hannah,  1  Sam. 
i.  10 ;  of  Samson,  Judg.  xvi.  28 ;  of  Moses,  Ex.  xxxii. 
12 ;  of  Jacob,  Gen.  xxxii.  9. 

These  examples  may  help  us  also  as  to  the  expres- 
sions which  we  ought  to  use  in  prayer,  as  they  are  the 
best  directory  for  the  form  and  manner  of  approaching 
God. 

The  whole  of  this  fine  passage,  frfim  verse  15  to  the 
end  of  the  chapter,  is  the  apostle's  prayer  for  the  Ephe- 
sian  church.     Let  us  attend  to  its  various  parts. 

I.  The  Two  Heavenly  Gifts. 

Wherefore  I  also,  after  I  heai^d  of  your  faith  in  the 
Lord  Jesus,  and  love  unto  all  the  saints  (ver.  15). 

It  has  been  argued  by  some  that  the  expression 
^^ After  I  heard,^^  or  "  Having  heard,"  proves  that  the 
apostle  was  unacquainted  with  those  to  whom  he  wrote, 
and  consequently  that  he  could  not  have  addressed  his 

12 


90  GKAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

Epistle  to  the  Epliesians,  who  were  personally  known  te 
him.  But  (1)  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  us  from 
hearing  of  the  faith  and  love  of  those  we  know,  and  the 
fact  that  we  know  them  only  increases  our  interest  in 
their  improved  condition.  The  church  at  Ephesus, 
since  he  left  them,  may  have  got  large  additions  to 
their  numbers,  may  have  received  more  abundantly 
the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  may  have  been  growing 
in  favor  with  God  and  man ;  and  the  apostle's  hearing 
thereof  is  sufficient  cause  for  thankfulness.  But  (2) 
we  might  with  better  reason  take  a  peculiar  meaning 
out  of  the  verb  to  hear,  and  say  in  this  passage  it 
means  to  "know  by  experience,"  and  that  therefore 
the  text  expressly  asserts  that  Paul  was  well  acquainted 
with  those  to  whom  he  wrote.  That  the  Greek  verb 
to  hear  has  this  signification  is  manifest  to  every  dili- 
gent reader  of  the  Bible.  Our  translators  rightly  ren- 
der it  in  this  sense  (1  Cor.  xiv.  2) :  "  No  man  unde7'- 
standeth  him."  So  it  must  be  understood  in  Gen.  xi. 
7  (in  the  Septuagint)  and  many  others,  such  as  Gen. 
xlii.  23;  Matt.  ii.  3,  22;  v.  21;  xi.  2;  Matt.  v.  27; 
Dent,  xxviii.  49 ;  2  Kings  xviii.  26  ;  Jer.  v.  15 ;  Ezek. 
iii.  6.  The  Hebrew  verb  has  the  same  application.  Gen. 
xi.  7 ;  xli.  15 ;  xlii.  2.  There  is  nothing,  therefore,  in 
the  verse  in  any  way  inconsistent  with  the  opinion 
that  Paul  directed  his  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians.  But, 
leaving  these  opinions,  let  us  turn  to  the  contents  of 
our  passage. 

First.  Faith  is  the  first  gift  of  God  which  he  men- 
tions in  their  praise,  and  truly  in  many  respects  it 
deserves  the  first  place  in  our  letters,  in  our  hearts  and 
in  our  lives. 

(1)  What  is  faiths     It  is  a  holy  resting  upon  the 


CHAPTER    I.     VERSES   15-23.  91 

word  and  promise  of  God  as  true  and  faithful,  so  that 
the  natural  consequence  is  peace  of  conscience  and 
spiritual  joy  ;  it  is  a  taking  of  God  at  his  word,  with- 
out any  ifs  or  buts,  without  qualifications  or  conditions, 
without  asking  why  or  wherefore,  or  any  other  save 
the  single  question,  "  What,  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have 
me  to  do?"  We  convince  ourselves  by  reason  and 
testimony  that  God  is  the  speaker,  and  from  that 
moment /a^^A  takes  all  that  is  given,  hears  all  that  is 
uttered,  believes  every  word  spoken,  without  a  moment's 
hesitation.  It  is  not  so  much  the  hand  that  receives  as 
the  receiving  itself;  not  the  feet,  but  the  coming  to 
Christ;  not  the  eye  that  looks,  but  the  looking  to 
Jesus,  the  Author  and  Finisher  of  our  faith. 

(2)  Their  faith  was  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  De 
Wette,  indeed,  asserts  (on  Rom.  iii.  25)  :  "3fa7i  kann 
nicht  TZiOTic.  tv  sag  en — und  ganz  unerhoert  ist  ruareoecv  iv 
TO)  alfiarc,'^  etc. ;  that  is,  De  Wette  asserts  that  we  can- 
not, according  to  the  principles  of  the  Greek  language, 
say  we  believe  iti  Ghi'ist,  we  have  faith  in  Christ ;  and 
to  speak  of  believing  in  the  blood  of  Christ  is  an 
unheard-of  absurdity.  This  is  surely  a  great  mistake 
of  the  distinguished  critic,  if,  indeed,  it  be  not  something 
worse.  The  verb  to  believe  is  followed  by  a  dative^ 
Mark  xvi.  13 ;  John  v.  46 ;  Acts  viii.  12 ;  to  believe  upon 
with  a  dative,  Luke  xxiv.  25,  with  an  accusative,  Rom. 
iv.  24 ;  to  believe  on,  followed  by  an  accusative,  John 
xiv.  1 ;  1  Pet.  i.  21 ;  to  believe  in,  followed  by  a  dative, 
which  De  Wette  denies,  Mark  i.  15 ;  Gal.  iii.  26 ; 
1  Tim.  iii.  13 ;  and  the  same  form  is  found  in  both 
the  Hebrew  and  the  Arabic  language  ( Jer.  xii.  6 ;  Ps. 
Ixxviii.  22).  In  these  languages,  as  in  our  own,  they 
can  use  all  these  various  forms :  "  I  believe  in  Christ," 


92  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

"  I  believe  on  Christ,"  "  I  believe  upon  Christ,"  "  I 
believe  Christ,"  and  "  I  believe  many  things  about 
Christ."  I  assert  the  same  of  all  languages  on  the 
face  of  the  earth.  But  De  Wette's  theology  here,  as 
in  other  passages,  moulds  his  criticism  (especially  on 
Kom.  ix.  5)  and  shakes  our  confidence  in  his  impar- 
tiality. When,  therefore,  Paul  in  our  text  says  he 
"  heard  of  your  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus,"  he  is  speak- 
ing perfectly  good  Greek  and  following  a  very  exten- 
sive analogy  or  usage  in  the  New  Testament.  Jesus 
is  the  great  object  of  faith  in  the  New  Testament.  His 
glorious  person  is  the  Rock  on  which  our  faith  rests, 
the  Sun  of  righteousness  for  our  eyes,  the  Refuge-City 
into  which  we  run,  the  Gift  given  us  by  almighty  God, 
which  we  receive  by  the  hand  of  faith.  Our  faith 
glories  in  all  his  names,  titles,  offices  and  attributes 
as  the  Head  of  the  Church,  the  Redeemer  of  the  world, 
the  Mediator,  Advocate  and  Judge  (Acts  xx.  21 ;  xxvi. 
18 ;  Col.  ii.  5 ;  Gal.  iii.  26) ;  in  Christ  (Eph.  i.  15 ; 
Coh  i.  4;  1  Tim.  i.  14 ;  iii.  13  ;  2  Tim.  i.  13;  iii.  15; 
also,  with  a  genitive,  James  ii.  1 ;  Eph.  iv.  13).  This 
remarkable  form,  "  The  faith  which  belongs  to  you," 
occurs  in  certain  other  passages,  and  has  the  same 
signification  as  "your  faith."  [See  the  Greek  form 
of  expression  in  Acts  xvii.  28 ;  xviii.  15 ;  xxvi.  3.] 
The  best  Greek  writers  sometimes  use  the  same  form 
(Thucyd.  6,  16).  We  should  naturally  have  expected 
that  the  article  would  have  been  repeated  after  faith, 
as  it  is  after  love  in  the  second  clause  of  the  verse ;  but 
the  language  admits  such  varieties. 

Second.  Now  comes  the  next  great  gift  for  whicli 
the  apostle  praises  them — love,  brotherly  love,  love  to 
all  the  saints.     It  has  its  fountain  in  the  love  of  God 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES   15-23.  93 

as  the  Father  of  the  whole  redeemed  family.  His 
love  to  us  produces  corresponding  love  to  him,  and  in 
loving  the  common  Father  we  necessarily  love  one 
another.  The  bonds,  indeed,  which  bind  the  saints 
together  are  very  many  and  very  strong.  They  are 
members  of  the  same  family,  redeemed  with  the  same 
precious  blood  and  filled  with  the  same  quickening 
Spirit.  They  have  the  same  friends  and  the  same  ene- 
mies, the  same  hopes  and  the  same  fears,  the  same  prom- 
ises of  good  things  to  come  and  the  same  living  Head 
in  heaven.  How  full  and  deep  and  strong  should  be 
their  love  to  one  another !  The  words  of  our  text 
are  instructive :  "  Love  to  all  the  saints."  Ye  have 
no  exceptions  and  no  preferences,  no  suspicions  and 
no  base,  calculating,  sectarian  spirit  of  complaint  to 
embroil  and  embitter  all.  Be  done  with  your  nar- 
row-mindedness, my  brother,  and  with  all  your  dwarf- 
ish, sectarian  bigotry,  and  let  your  heart  expand  lov- 
ingly over  the  whole  family  of  God.  All  saints,  from 
Abel  to  the  end — the  redeemed  Church  of  Christ,  the 
monuments  of  divine  mercy,  the  habitation  of  God 
through  the  Spirit,  the  heirs  of  the  heavenly  inherit- 
ance, the  whole  great  congregation  of  the  faithful  in 
all  ages  and  nations, — all  saints :  that  is  the  circle  of 
your  love.  Not  these  saints  and  those  saints  who  are 
modeled  nationally  or  ecclesiastically  to  your  taste,  but 
all  who  believe  on  the  name  of  the  Son  of  God,  what- 
ever their  language  or  creed,  whatever  their  country 
or  color.  These  are  our  brethren,  and  we  shall  meet 
them  in  heaven.  With  these  we  cast  in  our  lot  for 
time  and  for  eternity ;  and,  whatever  be  their  failings 
and  imperfections,  we  will  love  them  all.  In  the  stir- 
ring words  of  Wesley's  hymn  : 


94  GEAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

"  One  family,  we  dwell  in  him, 
One  Church  above,  beneath, 
Though  now  divided  by  the  stream — 
The  narrow  stream — of  death. 

"  One  army  of  the  living  God, 
To  his  command  we  bow ; 
Part  of  the  host  have  crossed  the  flood, 
And  part  are  crossing  now." 

These  two  capital  virtues,  faith  and  love,  are  the  first 
work  of  the  Spirit  in  the  hearts  of  believers.  In  other 
passages  Jiope  is  added  (Col.  i.  4,  5;  1  Thess.  i.  o). 
The  first  reaches  over  the  boundaries  of  the  visible 
and  fixes  its  eye  on  the  unseen  home — God  the  Re- 
deemer, the  glorious  kingdom,  the  communion  of 
saints,  the  eternal  reward ;  the  second  flows  from  the 
smitten  heart  like  the  streams  from  the  rock  in  the 
wilderness,  encircling  all  saints  with  its  dewy  influ- 
ences ;  and  hope  opens  the  vista  of  the  future  and 
presents  to  the  longing  eye  the  kingdom  and  coming 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  resurrection  of  the  saints 
and  the  crowns  of  glory.  Where  these  three  gifts 
abound  the  Church  is  in  a  healthy,  vigorous  condi- 
tion, and  in  j^roportion  as  they  increase  and  multiply 
we  come  nearer  to  the  glories  of  the  apostolic  ages. 

11.  Thanksgiving  and  Intercession. 

Cease  not  to  give  thanks  for  you,  making  mention  of 
you  in  my  prayers  (ver.  16). 

There  is  no  place  where  our  remembrance  is  S(j 
much  worth  as  at  the  throne  of  grace,  for  there  the 
selfishness,  worldliness  and  sectarianism  of  our  nature 
fall  off  from  us  and  our  affections  become  more  pure 
and  blessed ;  our  prayers  and  intercessions  for  one  an- 
other unite  us  more  and  more  with  all  saints  in  tlie 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES  15-23.  95 

unity  of  the  Spirit ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  they 
draw  down  from  our  Father  in  heaven  the  blessings 
of  his  grace.  Paul  could  say,  "  I  have  heard  of  your 
faith  and  love,  dear  brethren,  in  the  Lord  Jesus,  and 
therefore  I  cea^e  not  to  give  thanks  for  you,  making 
mention  of  you  in  my  prayers^  His  first  feeling  is  to 
give  thanks  for  them.  They  had  errors,  no  doubt,  and 
were  far  from  being  perfect,  as  his  prayer  for  them 
teaches,  but  he  will  first  give  thanks  for  what  they 
have  received.  He  recognizes  the  good  work  of  the 
Spirit,  and  then  hopes  for  an  increase  of  it.  This  is 
the  way  to  increase  our  own  trust  and  confidence  in 
the  Lord,  and  at  the  same  time  to  widen  the  channels 
of  divine  love.  How  sweet  and  tender  is  this  spirit 
of  love!  We  see  the  same  in  its  greatest  perfection 
in  the  person  of  the  Redeemer.  He  begins  with  praise 
wherever  the  least  praise  is  possible,  that  he  may  win 
himself  a  way  into  the  hearts  of  men.  In  the  epistles 
to  the  seven  churches  (Rev.  ii.  and  iii.)  he  always  be- 
gins with  commendation — though  in  these  churches 
there  were  errors  of  all  kinds — and  thus  sweetly  in- 
troduces himself  to  the  evils  he  would  remove  by  some 
tender  word,  such  as,  "  Nevertheless  I  have  somewhat 
against  thee." 

Prayer,  generally  speaking,  is  the  life  of  a  Christian 
Church,  and  when  it  takes  the  forms  of  thanksgiving 
and  intercession  it  is  peculiarly  blessed  and  attractive. 
The  Head  in  heaven  is  the  living,  everlasting  Inter- 
cessor for  the  whole  Church ;  and  the  members  of  his 
body,  filled  with  his  Spirit,  abound  in  intercessions  and 
prayers  for  one  another,  and  for  the  unbelieving  world. 
This  spirit  of  love  proceeds  from  all  and  animates  all. 
The  father  prays  for  the  son,  and  the  son  for  the  fa- 


96  GKAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

ther  ;  the  mother  for  the  daughter,  and  the  daughter  fo? 
the  mother ;  the  pastor  is  much  in  prayer  and  inter- 
cession for  his  beloved  flock,  and  they  never  fail  t(> 
remember  him  before  the  throne  of  grace.  In  the 
silence  of  the  heart,  in  the  secrecy  of  the  closet,  in 
social  meetings  for  prayer,  in  the  morning  and  eveii- 
ing  sacrifice  of  the  family  and  in  the  public  ministid- 
tions  of  the  sanctuary,  there  arises  the  constant  incense 
of  praise  and  thanksgiving  and  intercession  for  rela- 
tives and  friends,  for  sick  and  afflicted  ones,  for  rulers 
and  governors,  for  the  whole  Christian  Church  and 
for  the  whole  heathen  world. 

Let  us  imbibe  this  spirit  of  intercessory  prayei  and 
seek  to  grow  up  into  closer  and  deeper  fellowship  with 
God.  Prayer  moves  the  hand  that  moves  the  world. 
Thy  tender,  trembling  voice  of  fervent  prayer  rises 
above  the  loudest  thunder,  pierces  the  clouds  and  the 
heavens  and  reaches  the  ear  of  God.  It  draws  down 
l)lessings  on  thyself  and  on  thy  brethren  and  tempers 
thy  soul  with  the  communion  of  saints.  Rejoice  ever- 
more ;  pray  without  ceasing ;  let  the  same  mind  be  in 
thee  which  was  also  in  Jesus,  the  Redeemer  and  the 
Intercessor. 


III.   The  Substance  of  the  Prayer. 

That  the  God  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Father 
of  glory,  may  give  unto  you  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and 
revelation  in  the  /mow ledge  of  him :  the  eyes  of  your 
■understanding  being  enlighte7ied ;  that  ye  may  know 
xvhat  is  the  hope  of  his  calling,  and  what  the  riches  of 
the  glory  of  his  inheritance  in  the  saints,  and  what  is 
the  exceeding  greatness  of  his  power  to  us-ward,  who  be- 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES    15-23.  97 

lieve,  according  to  the  worhing  of  his  mighty  power, 
which  he  ivr ought  in   Christ  (ver.  17-20). 

After  having  stated  the  causes  for  thanksgiving  and 
special  intercession  in  regard  to  the  church  at  Ephesus, 
the  apostle  now,  as  his  custom  was,  pours  forth  the  full- 
ness of  his  heart  in  sweetest  prayer  to  God  for  them 
all.  This  beautiful  supplication  extends  from  the 
seventeenth  verse  to  the  nineteenth.  Let  us  attend 
to  the  particulars  contained  in  it. 

First.  The  names  of  God.  We  have  first  here  the 
name  "  ^Ae  God  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ'' — a  form 
which  occurs  nowhere  else  in  the  Scriptures ;  but 
"  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ "  does 
often  occur;  and,  as  we  have  discussed  this  name 
already  (Eph.  i.  3),  we  must  refer  you  to  what  we 
have  said  above. 

In  what  sense,  then,  is  the  Father  of  glory  called  the 
God  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ?  I  have  often  enough 
shown  that  "  Lord  Jesus  Christ "  is  the  mediatorial 
name  of  the  Redeemer,  and  surely,  as  the  sent  One, 
the  promised  Messiah,  the  Mediator,  or,  in  one  word, 
the  God-Man,  the  Father  may  properly  be  called  his 
God.  Even  in  the  passage  (Heb.  i.)  where  the  writer 
formally  demonstrates  his  Godhead,  names  him  God 
and  Creator  of  the  universe,  yet  in  the  same  breath  he 
says,  "  God,  even  thy  God,  hath  anointed  thee  with  the 
oil  of  gladness  above  thy  fellows ;"  and  Jesus  himself 
says,  "  I  ascend  to  my  God  and  your  God  "  (John  xx. 
17)  ;  and  on  the  cross  his  bitter  cry  was,  "  My  God,  my 
God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me?"  (Matt,  xxvii.  46). 
I  see  no  difficulty  in  these  passages,  nor  do  I  seek  by 
any  effort  to  explain  them  away.  They  teach  that  Jesus 
Christ  was  a  creature,  and  I  believe  it ;  that  God  was 

13 


98  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

his  God  in  the  truest,  fullest  sense  of  the  word,  and  I 
believe  it.  That  the  blessed  Son  of  God  came  thus  low 
to  seek  and  to  save  the  lost  is  not  to  be  denied  or  ex- 
plained away,  but  gloried  in  and  defended  unto  the 
death.  This  text  should  never  have  been  quoted  on 
the  Homo-ousian  controversy,  and  I  detest  the  ortho- 
dox efforts  to  get  rid  of  its  natural  meaning,  as  I  de- 
test the  Arian  perversions  of  John  i.  1 ;  Rom.  ix.  5 
and  other  passages  that  refer  to  the  divinity  of  Christ. 
It  is  2.  fact  that  the  eternal  Son  emptied  himself  of  his 
glory  and  took  upon  himself  the  form  of  a  servant 
(Phil,  ii.)  that  he  might  depend  on  the  Father,  which 
we  had  failed  to  do ;  that  he  might  live  to  the  Father, 
receive  all  from  the  Father,  never  seek  his  own  glory, 
but  the  Father's,  and  finally  die  on  the  cross  to  vindi- 
cate the  Father's  violated  law  and  thus  open  the  foun- 
tains of  mercy  to  mankind.  Admit  this,  and  there  is 
no  difficulty  any  more  in  the  Scripture  delineations  of 
the  person  of  Christ.  He  is  the  Son  of  God  and  the 
Son  of  man ;  the  Creator  of  the  universe  and  the  babe 
of  Bethlehem ;  the  Man  of  faith,  prayer  and  perfect 
love  to  God,  and  yet  the  Object  of  the  adorations  of 
angels  and  men.  He  is  God  over  all  (Rom.  ix.  5), 
and  yet  the  Father  is  his  God ;  all  extremes  meet  and 
are  reconciled  in  his  wonderful  person.  If  this  doctrine 
of  the  God-Man  be  rejected,  the  Scripture  becomes  in- 
explicable, and  man  has  no  Redeemer.  "  Father  of 
glory  "  may  either  mean  "  the  glorious  Father,"  accord- 
ing to  a  well-known  Hebraism,  or  it  may,  more  nat- 
urally, signify  the  author  and  possessor  of  glory  ;  and  so 
we  take  it  here — the  fountain,  source  and  possessor  of 
glory.  Glory  among  both  Hebrews  and  Greeks  signi- 
fies the  grace,  majesty  and  beauty  of  the  royal  state ; 


CHAPTEK    I.    VERSES   15-23.  99 

the  radiance,  splendor  and  inapproachable  light  of  the 
heavenly  throne  (Ex.  xxiv.  16  ;  xl.  34  ;  Isa.  vi.  3  ;  Ezek. 
i.  28).  Jehovah  is  the  centre  and  fountain  of  all  the 
excellence,  majesty  and  glory  of  the  universe.  Even 
so  Jesus  is  called  the  Lord  of  glory.  (See  Ps.  xxix. 
3 ;  Acts  vii.  2 ;  Ps.  xxiv.  7  ;  Heb.  ix.  5.)  Glory  is  thus 
the  highest  biblical  expression  for  all  excellence,  and 
especially  for  the  external  splendor  connected  with  the 
throne  of  God  and  the  divine  presence. 

Second.  The  spirit  of  wisdom.  Some  think  that  be- 
cause the  apostle  uses  here  spirit  without  the  Greek 
article  he  cannot  mean  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  Sanctifier, 
but  the  disposition  of  the  believer's  mind.  Such  a 
principle,  however,  cannot  be  established  from  the 
doctrine  of  the  Greek  article,  nor  from  the  usage  of 
the  New  Testament.  (See  Luke  iv.  1 ;  Acts  x.  38  ; 
Luke  iv.  18 ;  Matt.  xii.  28,  where  pneuma  without  the 
article  denotes  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  Comforter.)  The 
article  is  not  intended  to  denote  personality,  but  to  give 
emphasis  to  the  word  to  which  it  is  joined  ;  and  that  it 
does  not  always  do.  The  prayer  of  the  apostle  is  that 
the  Father  of  glory  would  shed  down  upon  the  Ephe- 
sians  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  or  rather  the  Holy 
Ghost  himself,  to  fill  them  with  all  spiritual  blessings 
(Rom.  xii.  6  ;  1  Cor.  xii.  4,  9,  28,  30,  31 ;  1  Pet.  iv. 
10,  etc.).  He  is  called  the  spirit  of  wisdom,  grace, 
glory,  etc.,  because  he  is  the  Author  of  these  blessings. 
He  it  is  that  gives  wisdom  to  the  simple  and  an  under- 
standing heart  to  them  that  fear  the  Lord.  His  nature 
is  divine ;  his  name  is  emphatically  "  the  Holy  One ;" 
his  place  is  the  bosom  of  the  Church ;  and  his  office,  in 
the  absence  of  Christ,  is  to  sanctify  and  comfort  be- 
lievers (John  xvi.  14).     He  reveals  to  us  the  Saviour's 


100  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

love  and  disposes  our  hearts  to  receive  it.  This  verse, 
then,  teaches  us  that  we  need  two  gifts — ivisdom  and 
knowledge;  and  these  the  Holy  Spirit  gives.  It  in- 
sists, too,  upon  the  fact  that  it  is  not  the  knowledge  of 
nature  or  the  arts  of  life  or  the  demonstrations  of  sci- 
ence, but  the  knowledge  of  Jesus  Chrisi,  which  we  need, 
and  we  are  assured  that  the  Holy  Spirit  will  reveal  to 
the  saints,  according  to  their  need,  more  and  more  of 
the  fullness  of  their  divine  Master. 

Third.  The  enlightening  of  the  eyes  of  the  under- 
standing is  the  next  petition  of  the  apostle.  Instead 
of  understanding,  most  of  the  best  manuscripts  and 
authorities  read  "  the  eyes  of  your  hearth  This  is 
evidently  the  correct  reading,  and  it  has  been  received 
into  the  text  by  the  soundest  critics  of  modern  times. 
(Comp.  Rom.  i.  '21 ;  2  Cor.  iv.  6 ;  Rom.  ii.  15 ;  1  John 
iii.  20,  21.)  Bengel,  Meyer  and  others  take  "the  en- 
lightened eyes  "  to  be  the  accusative  absolute,  and  our 
translators  seem  to  have  done  the  same ;  but  surely  the 
natural  and  simple  construction  is  to  govern  it  by  give 
— that  he  would  give  to  your  heart  enlightened  eyes. 
The  meaning  is  little  different  from  the  common  read- 
ing, inasmuch  as  heart  denotes  not  only  the  will  and 
the  affections,  but  also  the  reflective  and  thinking  faculty 
(Matt.  xiii.  15 ;  Mark  vi.  52  ;  John  xii.  40 ;  Rom.  i. 
21;  2  Pet.  i.  19).  In  the  Hebrew  it  has  the  same 
signification  (Isa.  vi.  10  ;  Job  xii.  3).  This  enlighten- 
ing of  the  eyes  of  the  heart  is  expository  of  the  work 
of  the  spirit  of  wisdom  mentioned  in  the  former  verse. 
The  meaning  is :  If  you  have  received  the  s])irit  of 
wisdom  in  revealing  to  you  the  knowledge  of  Christ, 
his  presence  will  be  felt  in  opening  the  eyes  of  your 
heart.     He  opens  up  the  excellences  of  the  Redeemer, 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES  15-23.  101 

and  he  opens  your  heart  to  contemplate  them  with  de- 
light. He  removes  every  impediment  out  of  the  way, 
that  the  Saviour  and  the  sinner  may  meet — that  our 
weakness  and  wickedness  and  wants,  our  obstinacy, 
blindness  and  vanity,  may  be  met  and  removed  by  a 
gracious  and  all-sufficient  Saviour.  The  Spirit  gives 
us  light  from  the  beams  of  the  Sun  of  righteousness 
and  inflames  our  hearts  with  the  fiery  baptism  of  love 
to  God  and  man.  The  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  the 
very  life  and  soul  of  the  Christian  Church.  Where 
his  person  and  offices  are  denied  or  not  believed  in, 
you  have  the  silence  and  solitude  of  death,  as  among 
Rationalists,  Socinians  and  Arians.  Where  his  person 
is  recognized,  but  his  personal  working  denied  or  not 
understood  or  restricted  to  a  certain  class,  as  bishoj^s,  or 
tied  down  absolutely  to  certain  acts,  as  baptism,  con- 
firmation, etc.,  there  you  have  the  reign  of  rites  and 
forms,  the  oppression  of  a  grinding  ritualism,  like  that 
which  oppresses  the  Oriental  and  the  papal  churches. 
Where,  on  the  other  hand,  his  work  is  altogether  de- 
tached from  the  word  of  God  and  the  ordinances,  and 
his  person  and  offices  firmly  believed  in,  then  you  have 
the  spirit  of  sectarianism,  Quakerism,  Fifth-Monarchy 
Men  and  all  sorts  of  pretenders  to  inspiration  and  new 
revelations. 

On  this  deep  subject  we  venture  the  following  ob- 
servations for  the  guidance  and  satisfaction  of  pious, 
inquiring  minds : 

(1)  The  ordinances  appointed  by  Christ  are  the 
legitimate  and  ordinary  channels  of  the  waters  of  life. 
In  them  the  Lord  has  promised  his  Spirit,  and  to  neg- 
lect them,  while  yet  we  seek  the  presence  of  the  Com- 
forter, is  presumption.      The    Bible   is  the  revelation 


102  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

of  God,  the  Spirit  is  the  enUghtener  of  the  heart,  an<l 
the  means  of  grace  are  intended  of  the  Lord  to  realize 
in  the  Church  the  office  of  the  one  and  the  truth  of 
the  other. 

(2)  It  is  the  right  and  privilege  of  all  the  mem- 
bers of  Christ  to  ask  their  heavenly  Father  for  the 
gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  guide,  comfort  and  enlight- 
en them.  No  word  or  ordinance  of  man  should  keep 
them  from  that  sacred  duty.  He  is  the  promise  of 
the  Father  and  the  gift  of  the  ascended  Son  and  the 
Church's  Comforter,  to  abide  with  them  for  ever. 
Nor  can  you  remain  long  in  doubt  of  his  gracious 
operation  if  you  are  really  in  earnest  with  God  about 
the  state  of  your  souls.  You  will  find  the  word  and 
the  ordinances  and  the  promises  becoming  daily  more 
and  more  dear  to  you ;  the  affections  of  the  heart  more 
and  more  drawn  out  toward  the  Eedeemer,  who  de- 
serves a  thousand  times  more  than  we  can  give ;  the 
conscience  more  and  more  tender  in  respect  to  the 
guilt  and  the  enormity  of  sin ;  the  eye  of  the  heart 
and  the  mind  more  and  more  directed  to  the  cross ; 
the  hope  of  future  glory  will  become  brighter,  and  the 
whole  life,  as  you  near  the  better  land,  will  become 
radiant  with  peace  and  love  and  joy. 

(3)  It  seems  to  be  the  duty  of  pastors  to  bring  the 
doctrines  connected  with  the  person  and  offices  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  often  before  the  Church.  This  arises  from 
the  work  he  has  promised  to  perform  and  the  prom- 
inence which  is  given  to  his  agency  in  the  Bible.  In 
the  New  Testament  especially  he  is  everywhere  pre- 
sented as  the  quickener,  the  enlightener,  the  comforter 
and  the  life  of  all  that  believe.  He  may  be  resisted, 
quenched,  grieved,  blasphemed ;  and  hence  the  import- 


CHAPTER    I.     VERSES   15-23.  103 

ance  of  being  rightly  instructed  regarding  our  duties 
and  relations  to  him.  The  position  which  the  Spirit 
occupies  in  the  present  dispensation  shows  that  the 
Church  stands  related  to  him  in  a  special  and  won- 
derful manner.  The  Father's  place  is  the  throne,  the 
direct  object  and  end  of  worship ;  the  Son  is  at  the 
right  hand  or  before  the  throne,  as  the  one  High 
Priest  and  Mediator;  and  the  place  which  the  Spirit 
occupies  is  the  Church,  which  is  the  temple  of  his 
presence  and  the  holy  place  where  he  condescends  to 
dwell.  He  awakens  within  us  all  holy  desires,  and 
these  ascend,  through  the  Mediator,  to  the  Father. 
Thus  everything  connected  with  the  actual  endow- 
ment and  sanctification  of  the  Church  belongs  to  the 
Holy  Spirit.  He  directs  our  eyes  to  the  Sun  of  right- 
eousness ;  he  opens  in  our  hearts  the  streams  of  refresh- 
ing which  make  glad  the  city  of  God ;  he  relaxes  the 
grasp  of  the  destroyer  and  dissolves  the  enchantment 
which  sin  and  the  world  have  thrown  over  us;  he 
brings  light  into  our  darkness,  and  life  and  peace  and 
joy  into  the  cold  region  of  sin  and  death.  In  our 
text  he  is  the  Enlightener. 

Fourth.  And  this  light  is  to  lead  us  to  know  what  is- 
the  hope  of  his  calling.  This  is  the  genitive  of  the 
efficient  cause,  and  signifies  the  hope  which  God's  call- 
ing causes.  (See  Col.  i.  23.)  The  word  what  does  not 
express  the  object  of  the  hope  {res  sperata),  but  the 
quality  and  nature  of  it — what  kind  of  a  hope  it  is, 
how  great,  how  excellent,  how  glorious.  Kothing  but 
the  teaching  of  the  Spirit  can  give  you  an  idea  of 
the  majesty  and  excellence  of  the  things  hoped  for. 
"Calling"  has  much  signification  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  teaches  us  not  a  litt.e  of   the  grace  and 


104  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

goodness  of  God.  We  observe  tliat  his  calling  is 
God's  act  (Rom.  xi.  29;  Phil.  iii.  14),  by  which  he 
arrests  the  sinner  in  his  path  to  ruin  and  awakens  in 
him  the  new  life  and  the  new  hopes  of  the  gospel.  It 
is  the  high  calling  of  God  (Phil.  iii.  14),  because  of 
the  heights  of  glory  to  which  it  leads ;  it  is  a  holy 
calling  (2  Tim.  i.  9),  because  it  brings  us  to  the  foun- 
tain of  love  in  Jesus  Christ  and  clothes  us  with  the 
white  robes  which  are  the  righteousness  of  saints;  it 
is  a  heavenly  calling  (Heb.  iii.  1),  because  the  voice 
comes  from  heaven  and  leads  us  to  heaven.  We  are 
to  make  our  calling  and  election  sure  (2  Pet.  i.  10) 
by  a  hearty  and  diligent  use  of  the  means  of  grace 
which  our  heavenly  Father  has  put  within  our  reach. 
This  is  what  the  old  divines  termed  effectual  calling,  to 
distinguish  it  from  the  mere  outward  call  of  the  gospel, 
which  so  many  hear  without  profit.  As  it  is  written, 
many  are  called,  but  few  are  chosen  (Matt.  xx.  16). 
How  great  and  glorious  this  hope  must  be  we  may 
gather  from  the  dignity  of  Him  who  calls  us — God ; 
from  the  infinite  mercy  of  Him  through  whom  we  are 
called — Jesus  the  Mediator ;  from  the  work,  office  and 
person  of  Him  who  opens  our  hearts  to  obey  the  call 
— the  holy  Spirit  of  God ;  from  the  distress  and  mis- 
ery and  ruin  from  which  it  turns  us  away ;  and  from 
the  inheritance  of  heavenly  glory  with  God  to  which 
it  finally  leads  us. 

Fifth.  And  that  ye  may  know  what  is  the  riches 
of  the  glory  of  his  inheritance  iii  the  saints.  This  is 
much  stronger  than  "  what  is  the  glorious  riches  of 
his  inheritance,"  though  the  meaning  is  substantially 
the  same.  All  attempts  of  certain  cold  critics  to 
separate   his  inheritance  from  the  saints  are  vain,  as 


CHAPTER    I.     VERSES   15-23.  105 

if  the  idea  of  God's  having  his  inheritance  in  the 
saints  were  a  strange  or  unscriptural  one  (Deut.  xxxii. 
9;  1  Sam.  X.  1;  Ps.  Ixxviii.  71).  On  the  contrary, 
we  have  seen  (ver.  14)  that  the  Church  of  Jesus  is 
his  purchased  possession.  He  makes  a  full  exchange 
with  us,  and,  as  we  say,  in  the  fullness  of  love,  "  The 
Lord  is  our  portion  and  inheritance,"  so  he  says,  "  My 
inheritance  is  in  the  saints.  They  are  my  chosen,  re- 
deemed portion,  on  whom  I  have  expended  the  riches 
of  my  grace,  and  on  whom  I  mean  to  expend  all  the 
riches  of  my  glory."  This  is  the  natural  meaning  of 
the  passage,  and  it  suits  well  the  glowing  descriptions 
of  the  Church's  calling  and  destiny  which  we  find  in 
this  Epistle. 

His  inheritance  in  the  sai7its  may  be  taken  in  the 
sense  of  "  the  inheritance  which  he  has  purposed  for 
the  saints  " — viz.,  to  be  distributed  among  them  in  the 
day  of  his  appearing.  Here,  then,  once  more  the  eye 
of  hope  is  turned  to  the  inheritance,  and  the  loving 
heart  is  kept  expanding  under  the  impulse  of  such 
transcendent  promises.  Ponder  well  these  words, 
"  The  riches  of  the  glory  of  God's  inheritance  is  in 
the  saints,"  and  say,  "  Can  it  really  be  possible  ?  Can 
such  words  come  from  the  Creator  of  the  worlds? 
Can  even  divine  love  condescend  so  far?"  Oh,  my 
brother,  yes,  it  is  even  so ;  and  are  not  such  deline- 
ations of  the  future  in  keeping  with  and  worthy  of 
the  wonders  of  the  past?  Think  of  Nazareth  and 
Bethlehem  and  Calvary  and  the  incarnate  God  re- 
deeming a  world,  and  you  will  see  how  the  everlast- 
ing delights  of  God  may  be  settled  and  exhausted  in 
the  elected,  redeemed,  sanctified  and  glorified  Church. 
These  saints  are  the  Lord's  peculiar  people,  his  jewels, 

14 


106  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

liis  treasure  hid  in  the  field,  his  purchased  possession 
and  his  goodly  heritage.  His  delights  are  in  the 
saints ;  his  love  fills  their  hearts,  and  in  his  presence 
they  shall  have  rivers  of  pleasure  for  evermore.  He 
is  theirs,  and  they  are  his.  He  has  loved  and  chosen 
them,  and  they  have  loved  and  chosen  him.  Their 
misery  and  wretchedness  he  shared  and  appropriated 
in  the  days  of  his  humiliation,  and  they  shall  be 
covered  with  the  robe  of  his  righteousness  and  crowned 
with  the  garlands  of  victory  in  the  day  of  his  royal 
glory. 

Sixth.  As  the  climax  to  this  wonderful  manifestation 
of  Jehovah's  kindness  to  the  saints,  the  apostle  men- 
tions his  working  in  the  Christ  to  raise  him  from  the 
dead  and  set  him  on  the  heavenly  throne  far  above  all 
dominion  and  power ;  and  he  asserts  that  the  same 
power  is  working  in  them  that  believe,  and  shall 
finally  make  them  like  their  Master  and  bring  them 
to  him. 

There  is  a  divine  power  in  the  Church.  It  may  be 
more  or  less  manifested  in  this  place  or  in  that,  in  this 
particular  age  or  in  that,  but  the  energy  of  God  which 
raised  Jesus  from  the  dead  is  in  all  believers,  and 
shall  remain  with  them  and  never  leave  them  till 
they  are  enthroned  with  him  in  glory  (Col.  ii.  12). 
This  is  the  guarantee  for  the  Church's  perpetuity 
till  the  promises  of  God  come  to  nothing  and  the 
Kock  of  ages  breaks  in  pieces  (Matt.  xvi.  18).  This 
was  the  endowment  of  Pentecost,  the  last  best  gift 
of  the  risen  Redeemer,  to  remain  with  the  Church 
for  ever ;  and  this  outfit  for  her  journey  has  never 
been  withdrawn,  but  remains  in  her  still,  and  must 
remain  in  her  while   there   is  need   for   a  Quickener 


CHAPTER    I.     VER8ES   15-23.  107 

to  quicken  and  a  Comforter  to  comfort  the  children 
of  men. 

In  the  days  of  the  apostles  this  indwelling  energy 
broke  forth  in  all  kinds  of  wonderful  acts  of  power 
and  love,  which  gave  the  ministrations  of  the  primitive 
Church  such  irresistible  efficacy,  which  clothed  the 
apostolic  testimony  with  celestial  authority  and  car- 
ried conviction  with  the  force  and  rapidity  of  light- 
ning into  the  minds  of  men.  The  life  which  the 
Saviour  poured  out  on  the  cross  was  not  resumed 
from  the  grave,  but  another  kind  of  life  (1  Cor.  xv. 
42-^6),  over  which  death  hath  no  dominion  (Rom.  vi. 
9),  and  of  which  the  presence  and  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  the  Church  are  the  foretaste  and  the 
pledge  (Eph.  i.  14;  iv.  30;  2  Cor.  i.  22.).  The  mirac- 
ulous manifestations  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  person 
of  Christ  during  his  earthly  ministry  were  ante-res- 
urrection foretastes  of  the  plenitude  of  power  which  he 
entered  into  at  the  Ascension ;  and,  in  like  manner,  all 
the  inworking  of  the  Quickener  in  the  Church,  be  it  in 
the  form  of  love  or  of  faith  or  of  miraculous  power,  is 
the  bond  which  unites  her  to  the  glorified  Head,  the 
foretaste  and  pledge  of  her  resurrection  glory  (Rom. 
viii.  11). 

Every  word  in  this  nineteenth  verse  is  emphatic  and 
burns  with  apostolic  fervor :  "And  what  is  the  exceeding 
greatness  of  his  power  to  us-ward  who  believe,  according 
to  the  working  of  his  mighty  power. ^'  Faith  is  the  gift 
of  God,  and  the  believer  is  brought  under  the  same 
mighty  power  which  raised  and  glorified  the  Mediator. 
Why  is  it,  then,  that  we  are  so  weak  and  timorous  in 
fighting  the  good  fight  of  faith?  Why  does  the 
world    charm   us   and    the    flesh   master   us   and   the 


108  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

tempter  triumph  over  us  so  often  ?  It  is  because  of 
the  weakness  of  faith.  We  do  not  draw  from  the 
supplies  which  grace  has  provided  for  us,  nor  rest  for 
strength  and  victory  on  our  heavenly  Master's  hand. 
Ages  of  indifference  and  infidelity  have  made  us  weak, 
and  the  pretensions  of  the  papists  to  heavenly  gifts  and 
miraculous  manifestations  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  while 
their  kingdom  is  the  kingdom  of  the  beast  and  their 
morality  the  lowest  in  Europe,  have  made  many  averse 
to  the  whole  spiritual  and  sujoernatural  element  in  the 
Christian  system.  Thus,  Christianity  has  become 
a  mode  rather  than  a  life;  a  civilization  rather  than 
a  revelation ;  a  development  of  the  natural  law  of 
order  and  beauty  rather  than  an  indwelling  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  The  way  to  break  this  delusion  is  to 
look  up  to  the  throne  of  the  Redeemer,  from  which 
he  dispenses  the  gifts  of  his  mercy  and  power.  The 
one  Spirit  dwells  in  the  Head  and  the  members,  and 
the  power  of  the  Conqueror  at  the  right  hand  of  God 
is  yours  to  make  you  conquerors,  and  more  than  con- 
querors, through  Him  that  loved  you.  The  Church  is 
his  body,  united  to  him  by  the  two  bands  of  a  common 
nature  and  a  common  Spirit.  His  life  is  in  her.  It 
was  the  mighty  power  of  God  mentioned  in  our  text 
which  wrought  in  him  by  the  Holy  Spirit ;  which  led, 
sustained  and  comforted  him ;  which  enabled  him  to 
bear  the  cross  and  despise  the  shame ;  which  quickened 
his  body  in  the  grave,  fitted  him  for  the  glory  of  the 
heavens,  and  finally  elevated  him  into  universal 
dominion.  So  is  it  with  the  Church :  the  same 
power,  the  same  life  of  God,  dwells  in  her,  though 
not  in  the  same  measure;  it  guides  her,  fills  her, 
crucifies  her,  comforts  her,  and  finally  glorifies  her. 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES   15-23.  109 


IV.  The  Resurrection  of  Christ. 

When  he  raised  him  from  the  dead  (ver.  20). 

In  considering  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of 
Christ,  we  may  direct  our  attention  to  the  following 
facts  : 

First.  The  wages  of  sin  is  death.  He  must  there- 
fore die  in  our  nature  and  by  a  solemn  act  of  power 
and  love  cancel  on  the  cross  the  guilt  of  his  jieople. 
His  death  is  the  ransom,  and  his  resurrection  is  the 
proof  that  it  is  paid.  The  fact  of  atonement  is  demon- 
strated by  his  resurrection. 

Second.  Resurrection  is  the  foundation  of  the  Chris- 
tian system.  The  Church  commences  specially  with 
the  resurrection  of  Christ,  and  is  built  uj^oii  his  living, 
life-giving  person.  We  were  crucified  with  him,  and 
in  his  resurrection  we  are  raised  with  him  to  a  new 
and  immortal  life.  The  fallen  life  flowed  from  the 
first  Adam,  immortality  comes  from  the  second ;  up  to 
resurrection  he  was  the  Jew,  fulfilling  the  Jewish  law, 
embodying  the  spirit  of  the  Old  Testament  and  mani- 
festing what  a  Jew  ought  to  be ;  from  resurrection  he 
is  the  centre  of  new  life,  immortal  and  glorious,  the 
Head  of  the  Church  and  the  dispenser  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Resurrection  is  the  hinge.  Up  to  that  he  is 
the  Receiver,  and  from  that  the  Giver ;  up  to  that  the 
Anointed,  and  from  that  the  anointing  One ;  up  to  that 
the  atoning  Lamb,  and  from  that  the  interceding  High 
Priest  in  heaven ;  up  to  that  he  is  the  Burden-Bearer, 
and  from  that  the  Sceptre-Bearer,  of  creation  ;  up  to 
that  he  is  the  weary  Man  of  sorrows,  the  patient, 
hidden,  sin-bearing  Lamb,  and  from  that  the  all-sus- 
taining, all-filling,  life-quickening  God.     Hence  resur- 


110  GRAHAM   ON   EPHESIANS. 

rection  is  not  to  be  considered  as  an  abstract  dogrma, 
a  proposition  to  be  received  or  doubted  or  denied 
according  to  the  amount  of  evidence.  It  is  the  gran<l 
centre  of  life,  and  sheds  its  influence  in  and  over 
the  whole  character  of  the  believer.  We  are  united 
with  the  risen  One,  the  Conqueror  at  the  right  hand 
of  God,  and  hence  our  strength,  our  joyful  confi- 
dence and  our  victory  over  all  things.  The  impreg- 
nable fact  of  his  resurrection  is  the  basis  on  which 
the  New-Testament  Church  rests  (1  Cor.  xv.  17;  Rom. 
iv.  25). 

Third.  He  did  not  rise  from  the  dead  as  a  singly 
solitary  man,  but  as  the  sent  One  of  God,  the  Mes- 
siah of  the  Scriptures,  the  first-fruits  of  them  that 
slept ;  not  of  the  race,  but  of  the  family ;  the  first 
ripe  sheaf  of  the  harvest;  the  head  pledge  and  im- 
age of  those  who  shall  I'ise  from  the  dead  in  the 
morning  of  the  first  resurrection  (Rev.  xx.  5,  6 ;  Luke 
XIV.  14,  15;  XX.  35,  36;  Matt.  xxii.  30).  He  is  the 
first-fruits  of  the  harvest,  the  first-born  of  the  family 
and  the  first  man  who  really  rose  from  the  dead.  The 
others  were  specimens  rather  of  death  postponed  than 
of  resurrection.  He  rose  in  immortal  life  and  vigor ; 
death  hath  no  more  dominion  over  him  (Rom.  vi.  9). 
Hence  our  position  is  in  him,  members  of  the  risen 
Conqueror,  and  we  are  by  faith  enabled  to  look  down 
on  all  earthly  things  as  past  or  passing  beneath  our 
feet,  while  we  fix  the  eye  steadily  on  the  heavenly 
things  which  Jesus  has  prepared  for  his  j^eople  (John 
iii.  12). 

Fourth.  He  rose  publicly.  He  might  have  risen 
privately,  and  the  efficacy  of  his  atoning  death  would 
have  remained  untouched.     In  that  case  there  would 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES   15-23.  HI 

have  been  pa^'don,  but  no  proof  of  pardon  ;  and  if  in- 
spired men  had  testified  that  he  rose  from  the  dead 
and  went  to  heaven,  we  would  have  believed  it.  But 
such  was  not  the  will  of  God.  He  appeared  at  least 
eleven  times  after  his  resurrection,  and  in  every  pos- 
sible way  removed  the  doubts  of  his  disciples.  He 
did  not  appear  to  the  body  of  the  Jews,  l)ut  to  those 
who  were  capable  of  identifying  him.  Nothing  is 
more  deceptive  than  the  testimonies  of  great  public 
bodies.  Some  cannot  see  well ;  others  are  far  off,  and 
have  not  the  means  of  close  inspection  ;  some  are  talk- 
ing with  their  neighbors  in  the  press  and  crowd,  and 
many  of  them  must  have  only  a  general  and  indistinct 
knowledge  of  the  person.  Hence  doubts  could  easily 
arise  in  honest  minds ;  and,  while  there  might  be  a 
general  persuasion  that  the  appearance  was  real,  there 
would  be  wanting  that  feeling  of  interest  in  the  person, 
of  reverence  and  love  for  his  character,  which  alone  can 
make  men  suffer  for  their  testimony's  sake.  How  dif- 
ferent was  it  with  Jesus !  He  appeared  to  men  and 
women,  to  learned  men  and  ignorant  men,  in  houses 
and  in  the  open  air ;  he  walked  with  them,  ate  with 
them,  breathed  upon  them,  rebuked  them,  caused  them 
to  handle  and  see  him.  And  who  were  these  men  ? 
Those  upon  the  whole  earth  who  knew  him  best ;  the 
men  who  had  most  to  gain  by  a  falsehood,  and  all 
things — property,  good  name  and  life  itself — to  lose 
by  asserting  his  resurrection.  Yet  they  did  so  till 
their  death.  They  sealed  their  testimony  with  their 
blood.  There  is  no  historical  fact  on  record  so  strong- 
ly certified  as  is  the  resurrection  of  Christ. 

Fifth.  It  is  asserted  in  the  j^assage  that  God  raised 
him  from  the  dead  (Acts  ii.  24) ;  by  the  great  power 


112  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

of  God  (Rom.  vi.  4),  called  the  glory  of  the  Father, 
he  was  raised  from  the  dead.  (Comp.  Rom.  viii.  11  ; 
1  Cor.  vi.  15;  2  Cor.  xiii.  4).  In  this  way  the  Cre- 
ator set  his  seal  upon  the  life,  doctrine  and  character 
of  Christ.  He  fulfilled  his  divine  mission  in  the  re- 
demption of  man ;  he  revealed  the  true  character  of 
the  invisible  God ;  his  life  was  holy ;  his  words  were 
truth;  his  example  was  perfect  and  his  death  the 
expiation  of  sin ;  and  all  this  is  sealed  and  con- 
firmed by  the  great  act  of  God  in  raising  him  from 
the  dead. 

Sixth.  Yet,  the  Son  of  God  being  divine,  resurrec- 
tion is  also  his  own  act.  He  raised  himself  (John  ii. 
19;  Matt.  xxvi.  61;  Mark  xiv.  58).  He  had  power 
to  lay  down  his  life  and  take  it  again.  His  incarna- 
tion, life,  death  and  resurrection  were  parts  of  one  sys- 
tem of  voluntary  love  over  which  he  at  all  times  exer- 
cised complete  self-disposing  power.  This  view  of  his 
resurrection  presents  him  to  the  Church  as  the  head 
and  fountain  out  of  which  flow  power  and  life  and  all 
the  manifold  fullness  of  God.  He  is  the  manifesta- 
tion of  God  in  the  flesh,  proved  to  be  human  in  that 
he  died,  and  coequal  with  the  Father  in  that  he  raised 
himself  from  the  dead.  Hence  the  Church  always 
contemplates  him  as  the  Life. 

Seventh.  But,  as  the  Godhead  is  one,  it  may  fairly 
be  conceived  that,  whatever  be  the  special  offices  of 
the  divine  Persons,  they  all  concurred,  in  some  way  or 
other,  in  every  divine  act.  It  is  therefore  true  that 
the  body  of  Christ  was  quickened  by  the  Spirit  (1  Pet. 
iii.  18;  Rom.  i.  4;  viii.  11).  Thus  we  arrive  at  the 
truth  that  the  one  act  is  attributed  to  each  of  the  three 
Persons.     This  shows  the  working  of  the  Trinity  in 


CHAPTER    I.    VERSES   15-23.  113 

the  administration  of  the  kingdom  of  grace.  So  in 
the  incarnation.  The  Father  prejmred  the  body  (Heb. 
X.  5);  the  Son  assumed  it  (Heb.  ii.  16).  How?  By 
the  Holy  Ghost  (Luke  i.  35).  The  Father  begins, 
the  Son  carries  on,  the  work,  and  the  Spirit  completes 
it.  So  the  Church,  which  is  the  body  mystical :  the 
Father  draws  its  members  to  Christ,  the  Son's  deatli 
and  righteousness  are  made  over  to  them,  and  the 
Spirit  finishes  the  work  by  preparing  them  for  heav- 
en. The  Father  wills,  elects,  predestinates;  the  Son, 
the  Mediator,  executes ;  and  the  Holy  Spirit  perfects 
every  work  of  God.  The  Son  in  every  work  has  the 
middle  place,  and  hence  his  name  "Mediator"  (1  Tim. 
ii.  5;  Heb.  viii.  6;  ix.  15;  xii.  24).  The  unity  of  the 
Mediator  is  as  essential  a  truth  as  is  the  unity  of  God 
(ITim.  ii.  5). 

Yet,  though  all  the  Persons  of  the  Godhead  are 
engaged  in  the  various  works  and  acts  of  God,  there 
is  a  prominence  given  to  each  Person  in  certain  works. 
Thus,  creation  is  more  especially  the  Father's  work,  as 
being  the  first  work  or  act  possible,  the  Son  and  the 
Spirit  concurring  and  assisting ;  redemption  is  the  spe- 
cial work  of  the  Son,  the  Father  and  the  Spirit  con- 
curring and  assisting ;  sanctification  is  the  special  work 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  Father  and  the  Son  acting  a 
subsidiary  part  in  it. 

V.  His  Exaltation. 
And  set  him  at  his  own  right  hand  in  the  heavenly 
•places,  far  above  all  'principality,  and  power,  and  might. 
and  dominion,  and  every  name  that  is  named,  not  only 
in  this  world,  but  also  in  that  which  is  to  come  (ver. 
20,  21). 

15 


114  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESTANS. 

On  this  striking  passage  we  have  the  following  ob- 
servations to  make : 

First.  Think  of  the  fact  that  the  weak  mortal  man, 
the  kinsman  Redeemer  whom  we  despised,  from  whom 
we  hid  our  faces,  is  elevated  to  the  highest  dominion 
and  sits  at  the  right  hand  of  God.  The  verb  is  used 
for  the  participle  (as  Bloomfield  thinks)  to  strengthen 
the  assertion  of  his  glorious  elevation. 

The  hand  or  the  right  hand  is  used  in  Scripture  and 
in  the  East  with  wide  and  varied  significations.  (1) 
Hand  means  the  executive  part  of  a  man,  and  "  the  hand 
of  God  "  expresses  the  instrument  by  which  he  mani- 
teits  himself  in  chastisements,  as  Ex.  ix.  3 ;  Deut.  ii. 
15  ;  Judg.  ii.  15 ;  Job  xxiii.  2 ;  or  in  mercy  and  bless- 
ing, as  2  Chron.  xxx.  12 ;  Ezek.  ix.  2 ;  or  in  inspiring 
the  prophets,  as  Ezek.  i.  3 ;  iii.  14,  22  ;  xxxvii.  1 ;  2 
Kings  iii.  15.  In  these  scriptures  hand  is  the  instru- 
ment. Hence  Jesus  is  called  the  arm  of  the  Lord  (Isa. 
liii. ;  comp.  Gal.  i.  16),  the  revealer  of  Jehovah's  hid- 
den purpose.  All  that  is  known  of  the  power,  love, 
grace  and  goodness  of  God  is  known  only  in  him — 
the  arm  of  love  with  the  golden  sceptre  in  the  day  of 
grace ;  the  arm  of  power  with  the  iron  rod  (Ps.  ii.)  in 
the  day  of  judgment.  (2)  Right  hand  denotes  Xkv^  place 
of  honor ;  o.nd  so  Jesus  has  entered  into  the  glory, 
honor  and  majesty  which  were  prepared  for  the  Head 
and  the  members  from  the  beginning.  He  is  the  Ruler 
of  the  universe  (see  Matt.  xxvi.  64 ;  Mark  xii.  36 ;  xiv. 
62 ;  xvi.  19 ;  Luke  xx.  42 ;  Acts  ii.  34 ;  vii.  55,  b^ ; 
Heb.  i.  2  ;  Ps.  ii.  7)  ;  his  dominion  as  Son  (Ps.  ex.) ; 
his  rule  as  Lord  and  King.  The  right  hand  is  the 
hand  oi  acceptance  and  fellowship  (Gal.  ii.  9).  To  give 
the  right  hand  of  fellowship  is  an  intelligible  expression 


CHAPTER    I.     VERvSES   15-23.  115 

in  all  languages  (uEneid,  vii.  266),  and  Jesus  at  the 
right  hand  of  God  is  thus  the  accepted  j^erson  and  in 
the  place  of  acceptance.  God  accepts  us  through  the 
Man  of  his  right  hand,  Jesus  the  Mediator.  We  dis- 
tribute our  gifts  with  the  right  hand  ;  and  so  Jesus  in 
the  heavens  at  the  right  hand,  and  himself  the  right 
hand,  of  God  dispenses  to  the  Church  and  the  crea- 
tion all  the  treasures  of  Jehovah's  bounty. 

Second.  But  what  is  the  meaning  of  in  the  heavenly 
places?  It  may  mean  the  heavenly  conditions  or  the 
heavenly  abodes — the  abodes  above  the  lieavenly  spheres, 
the  supercelestial  habitations.  The  word  heavenly  seems 
to  be  the  highest  possible.  It  is  given  to  the  Father 
(Matt,  xviii.  35) .  The  "  heavenly  things  "  are  opposed  to 
•'  the  earthly,"  and  include  all  that  pertains  to  the  king- 
dom and  to  the  glory  of  God.  Jesus  is  in  these  abodes. 
He  is  in  the  house  not  made  with  hands — the  many- 
mansioned  house  of  the  great  Father  whose  love  and 
beneficence  are  over  all.  Fancy  fails  us  in  contemplat- 
ing these  abodes.  They  are  so  bright  and  glorious  that 
our  feeble  thought  cannot  comprehend  their  splendors. 
But,  as  they  are  the  dwelling-place  of  God,  they  must 
correspond  to  his  glory ;  and  Jesus,  the  glorified  Ke- 
deemer,  is  in  the  midst  of  the  throne,  to  lead  his  people 
to  fountains  of  living  water ;  and  there  are  the  heroes 
of  the  faith,  the  prophets,  the  apostles  and  the  martyrs. 
In  those  heavenly  abodes,  too,  we  shall  meet  the  in- 
numerable companies  of  the  angels,  the  seraphim  and 
the  cherubim  of  glory ;  and  there  shall  be  no  sin  nor 
death  nor  separation  any  more.  Oh,  blessed  house ! 
Oh,  blessed  hope  for  wearied  souls  !  Come,  Lord  Jesus, 
come  quickly ! 

Third.  But  his  is  a  universal  dominion,  all  created 


116  GEAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

things  being  subject  to  his  sway.  ''  He  is  exalted  far 
above  all  principality,  and  power,  and  might,  and 
dominion,  and  every  name  that  is  named,  not  only  in 
this  world,  but  also  in  that  which  is  to  come."  The 
language  is  most  emphatic,  and  seems  laboring  to  find 
words  to  express  the  majesty  of  Christ.  He  is  raised 
far  above  all  principality — that  is,  far  above  all  the 
princes  and  rulers  of  heaven,  the  abstract  being  put  for 
the  concrete,  as  is  not  unusual.  The  word  arehe  ("  prin- 
cipality ")  is  applied  to  civil  rulers  (Luke  xii.  11 ;  Tit. 
iii.  1),  as  is  the  Hebrew  rosh  (Micah  iii.)  to  the  rulers 
of  darkness  (1  Cor.  xv.  24;  Eph.  vi.  12)  and  to  the 
rulers  of  the  heavenly  kingdom  (Eph.  i.  21 ;  iii.  10 ; 
Col.  ii.  10).  This  reveals  the  threefold  character  and 
rule  of  Christ — over  the  earth  in  grace,  over  tlie  heav- 
ens in  glory,  and  over  the  region  of  woe  in  judgment 
and  justice. 

(1)  He  is  above  -aW  principality,  wherever  found.  It 
is  sweet  here  to  think  of  his  manhood.  Is  he,  in  this 
supereminent,  inconceivable  glory,  still  a  man  ?  Is  he 
still  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  whose  heart  is  love  ?  Is  that 
he,  far  above  all  heavens,  who  loved  me  and  gave  him- 
self for  me?  Is  that  my  nature,  my  human  nature, 
that  is  insphered  in  such  supercelestial  glory  ?  Oh. 
wonderful  is  redeeming  love !     God  is  love ! 

(2)  Far  above  -aW.  power — that  is,  authority  ;  all  au- 
thority in  heaven  and  earth  is  given  to  him  (Matt, 
xxviii.  18).  This  is  delegated  authority,  and  presents- 
Jesus  as  Man-Mediator,  ruling  over  the  creation  ;  tlu 
Head  of  the  Church  and  the  universe  :  the  universal 
Bishop  and  the  universal  King,  in  whose  person  reside 
ail  the  fountains  of  royal  and  priestly  power  (Rev.  i. 
()).     The  word  is  applied  to  the  angels  (Eph.  i.  21  ;  iii. 


CHAPTER    I.     VERSES   15-23.  117 

10;  Col.  i.  16;  ii.  10;  1  Pet.  iii.  22),  to  the  demons 
(Eph.  vi.  12;  Col.  ii.  15;  Eph.  ii.  2),  and  to  civil 
magistrates,  showing  also  the  triple  crown  of  Christ — 
his  authority  over  heaven,  earth  and  hell.  This  is  the 
authority  which  the  man  of  sin  usurps. 

(3)  He  is  far  above  all  might.  The  Greek  word  is  the 
origin  of  our  term  dynamics,  and  seems  to  denote  inherent 
strength,  capacity  and  ability;  but  it  is  very  variously 
applied  in  the  New  Testament.  It  denotes  the  almighty 
energy  of  God  in  creating  and  sustaining  the  world 
(Matt.  xxii.  29;  Mark  xii.  24;  Luke  i.  35;  v.  17; 
Rom.  i.  20;  ix.  17;  1  Cor.  vi.  14;  2  Cor.  iv.  7,  etc.). 
It  is  often  joined  with  glory,  and  seems  to  denote  om- 
nipotent majesty  (Matt.  xxiv.  30;  Luke  xxi.  27).  It 
is  used,  also,  like  the  two  former,  to  denote  rulers  of 
all  kinds  (Rom.  viii.  38;  1  Cor.  xv.  24;  Eph.  i.  21; 
1  Pet.  iii.  22).  This  word  represents  the  rulers  of  the 
world  as  mere  power-possessors,  the  mighty  ones  who 
execute  the  divine  will,  and  Jesus  is  far  above  them  all. 
These  heavenly  and  earthly  rulers  may  have,  and  very 
probably  have,  very  extensive  rule  and  authority  under 
the  sovereignty  of  God,  yet  they  are  all  but  shadows 
of  the  mighty  One,  the  Son,  the  Heir,  the  First-Born 
of  the  creation,  the  appointed  Mediator  and  Judge.  He 
unites  all  glories  in  his  person,  and  all  extremes  and 
varieties  are  in  him  harmonized. 

(4)  He  is  far  above  all  dominion  or  lordshi/p,  the  ab- 
stract here  also  for  the  concrete.  The  meaning  is, 
There  are  many  possessors  or  lords  in  the  dominions  of 
God,  but  Jesus  is  the  true,  original  Kurios,  Lord  and 
Possessor,  to  whom  all  belongs.  He  is  the  King  of 
kings  and  the  Lord  of  lords.  He  is  the  Lord  of  all 
(Rom.  X.  12 ;  ix.  15 ;  1  Cor.  xv.  25 ;  Heb.  ii.  8 ;  viii. 


118  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

1,  etc.).  The  idea  is  the  same  as  the  stronger  phrase 
"  God  over  all,"  which  is  applied  to  hini  in  Rom.  ix.  5. 
"  Lordship  "  implies  possession,  so  Jesus  (Kom.  x.  9)  ; 
authority,  so  Jesus  (Matt,  xxviii.  18)  ;  state,  attendance, 
court,  so  Jesus  (1  Pet.  iii.  22). 

(5)  But  the  apostle  adds,  ^'Far  above  every  name 
that  is  named,  not  only  in  tin's  world,  but  also  in  thai 
which  is  to  come;''''  on  which  we  remark  that  nami 
means  "  renown  "  or  "  glory,"  as  the  phrase  "  men  of 
name,"  which  we  rightly  render  "  men  of  renown " 
(Gen.  vi.  4 ;  comp.  Num.  xvi.  2 ;  1  Chron,  v.  24)  ;  and 
the  ignoble  are  called  "  sons  of  those  without  a  name  " 
(Job  xxx.  8).  The  Hebrews  say,  as  we  do,  "He  has 
made  himself  a  name"  (Gen.  xi.  4;  Jer.  xxxii.  20), 
and  to  acquire  a  name  (2  Sam.  vii.  23).  The  Lord 
promised  to  make  them  a  praise  and  a  name  (Zeph.  iii. 
19),  and  gloriously-beautiful  tents  are  tents  of  name. 
In  this  sense  Jesus  is  elevated  far  above  every  nam^ 
in  the  universe.  He  is  the  most  celebrated  Man  on 
the  earth.  He  is  the  most  glorious  Creature  in  the 
heavens.  I  say  creature,  for  the  passage  is  to  be  in- 
terpreted of  his  human  nature.  It  is,  then,  a  great  fact 
that  the  nature  of  man  in  the  person  of  the  Christ  is 
endowed  with  universal  and  everlasting  dominion  over 
all  things.  That  the  form  of  speech,  "  heaven  and 
earth,"  means  the  universe  needs  no  proof.  Glorious 
truth,  worthy  of  the  interference  of  the  Son  of  God  ! 
The  highest  becomes  the  lowest  that  the  lowest  may  be- 
come the  highest.  The  God-Man  on  earth  is  the  Man- 
God  in  heaven.  Abounding  sin  has  yielded  to  super- 
abounding  grace.  The  sin-stained  and  death-possessed 
manhood  has  been  raised  in  the  Head  and  Forerunner 
to  peerless  heights  of  glory.     All  transgressions  and 


CHAPTER    I.     VERSI':S    15-23.  119 

shortcomings  are  obliterated  and  forgotten  in  the  im- 
maculate perfection  of  the  Advocate  and  Mediator. 

Oh  what  love  is  in  the  heart  of  God!  What 
heights  of  glory  are  before  us,  my  brother  and  com- 
panion in  tribulation !  How  dear  should  every  being 
in  the  form  of  man  be  to  us  !  That  form  was  assumed 
by  the  Son  of  God  ;  that  form  is  on  the  throne  of 
heaven ;  that  form,  so  low  and  debased  as  we  often 
see  it,  is  the  royal  form  of  creature-being,  full  of 
divine  and  endless  cajDacities. 

But  we  must  stay  our  hand  in  these  anticipations  of 
man's  destined  dominion  over  all  things,  and  turn  to 
the  following  words  of  our  text,  which  contains — 

VI.  The  Headship  of  Christ. 

And  hath  put  all  things  under  his  feet,  and  gave 
him  to  be  the  Head  over  all  things  to  the  Church,  which 
is  his  body,  the  fullness  of  him  that  fllleth  all  in  all 
(ver.  22,  23). 

He  hath  put  all  things  under  his  feet.  This  is  the 
fulfillment  of  the  ancient  prophecies  (Ps.  ex.  and  ii. 
and  viii.)  which  announced  the  coming  of  the  Messiah. 
This  Headship  embraces  all  orders  and  ranks  and  con- 
ditions of  angels  and  men,  and  is  therefore  strictly  and 
properly  universal  (Heb.  ii.  7;  Col.  i.  18,  24).  The 
working  of  God  in  the  boundless  universe  is  man- 
ifested through  the  Head  and  Mediator,  in  whom 
alone  Creator  and  creature  can  meet.  This  heading- 
up  of  all  things  in  the  Christ  is  the  end  of  God's 
purpose  of  blessing  to  the  creation  (Eph.  i.  10).  He 
is  the  connecting-link  that  binds  it  in  faithful  service 
to  God,  the  Unit  and  Head  in  whom  all  its  depart- 
ments, varieties  and  orders  of  being  are  sustained  and 


120  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

harmonized.  Then,  again,  we  must  contemplate  this 
Headship  as  the  reivard  of  his  humiliation,  whose 
incredible  depth  is  best  seen  in  the  way  of  contrast 
by  the  dignity  and  glory  to  which  he  is  now  exalted. 
It  is  not,  however,  merely  personal ;  Jesus  is  the 
Head,  and  his  reward  draws  with  it  the  exaltation 
and  glory  of  the  members  also.  Then,  again,  in  this 
passage  we  discern  a  twofold  headship.  He  is  the 
Head  of  and  the  Head  over — the  Head  of  the  Church 
and  the  Head  over  all  things  to  the  Church,  which 
is  his  body,  the  fullness  of  him  that  filleth  all  in 
all.  The  Church  is  his  body  and  the  world  is  his 
dominion. 

We  may  analyze  the  doctrine  of  Headship  still 
further  by  the  following  division :  (1)  He  is  King 
of  the  Jews,  the  Son  of  Abraham,  and  Head  of  the 
Hebrew  race.  (2)  He  is  Husband,  Head,  King  and 
Redeemer  of  the  Church  (1  Cor.  xi.  3 ;  xii.  27 ;  Eph. 
i.  22;  iv.  15;  v.  23;  Col.  i.  18;  ii.  10,  19).  (3)  As 
Son  of  man  and  second  Adam  he  is  Head  and  Lord 
of  the  human  race  (1  Cor.  xi.  3;  xv.  22).  As  Medi- 
ator and  Lord  after  his  ascension  he  is  Head  over  the 
angels  (1  Pet.  iii.  22;  Rom.  viii.  28).  They  are  all 
his  ministering  spirits,  sent  forth  to  minister  to  the 
heirs  of  salvation  (Heb.  i.  14).  (4)  He  is  Head  over 
all  created  beings,  the  universal  Head  and  Sustain- 
er,  in  whom  it  has  pleased  the  Father  that  all  full- 
ness should  dwell. 

VII.  Practical  Lessons. 
We  have  thus  done  our  best  to  grasp  and  illustrate 
the   magnificent   theme   contained    in   our   text.     We 
have  surveyed  a  wide  and  fruitful   field ;    and  if  we 


CHAPTER    I.     VERSES   15-23.  121 

gather  no  fruit,  it  must  be  our  own  fault.  We  may 
want  the  eyes  to  see  it  or  the  taste  to  relish  it,  but  the 
fruit  is  there  in  plentiful  abundance. 

(1)  We  may  conclude  with  much  probability  that 
there  are  various  orders  of  angels,  and  various  ranks 
and  degrees  in  the  celestial  hierarchies.  The  earthly 
is  but  a  type  of  the  heavenly  in  this  respect.  We 
cannot  make  out  the  exact  degrees,  but  there  is 
evidence  that  ranks  and  degrees  exist. 

(2)  We  see  from  the  whole  passage  the  value  of  the 
human  family  in  the  sight  of  God.  We  see,  too,  in 
a  burning  light,  both  the  nature  of  sin  and  the  nature 
of  holiness — his  estimate  of  them  both.  Why  all  this 
working  in  the  Son  ?  Why  such  an  expensive  machin- 
ery? That  you  might  live;  that  you  might  obtain 
redemption  and  an  everlasting  kingdom.  Hence  sin 
can  be  no  trifle.  It  is  best  seen  in  the  light  of  the 
cross. 

(3)  We  see  Jesus,  our  Elder  Brother,  exalted  to  the 
right  hand  of  God.  He  is  our  Friend,  our  Fore- 
runner, our  Head.  Is  this  not  joy  for  you  and  me  as 
we  hear  the  thunder  of  Sinai  over  our  heads  ?  Ought 
not  the  heart  to  leap  with  joy  at  the  thought  of  meet- 
ing him,  seeing  him,  being  with  him  and  like  him  for 
ever  ?  Remember  that  word :  "  We  know  that  when 
he  shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like  him ;  for  we  shall 
see  him  as  he  is"   (1  John  iii.  2,  3,  4). 

16 


CHAPTER    IV. 

And  you  hatb  lie  quickened,  who  were  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins ; 
wherein  in  time  past  ye  walked  according  to  the  course  of  this  world, 
according  to  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,  the  spirit  that  now 
worketh  in  the  children  of  disobedience:  among  whom  also  we  all 
had  our  conversation  in  times  past  in  the  lusts  of  our  flesh,  fulfilling 
the  desires  of  the  flesh  and  of  the  mind  ;  and  were  by  nature  the 
children  of  wrath,  even  as  others.  But  God,  who  is  rich  in  mercy,  for 
his  great  love  wherewith  he  loved  us,  even  when  we  were  dead  in  sins, 
hath  quickened  us  together  with  Christ  (by  grace  ye  are  saved) ;  and 
hath  raised  us  up  together,  and  made  us  sit  together  in  heavenly 
places  in  Christ  Jesus;  that  in  the  ages  to  come  he  might  show  the 
exceeding  riches  of  his  grace  in  his  kindness  toward  us  through 
Christ  Jesus.  For  by  grace  are  ye  saved  through  faith ;  and  that  not 
of  yourselves:  it  is  the  gift  of  God:  not  of  works,  lest  any  man  should 
boast.  For  we  are  his  workmanship,  created  in  Christ  Jesus  unto 
good  works,  which  God  hath  before  ordained  that  we  should  walk  in 
them. — Ephesians  ii.  1-10. 

In  this  passage  we  have  two  great  contrasted  ideas — 
the  character  of  man  and  the  character  of  Ood ;  and 
these  are  so  placed,  like  light  and  shade  in  a  picture, 
that  they  serve  mutually  to  complete  and  illustrate 
each  other. 

The  ancient  commentators  connected  the  first  verse 
closely  with  the  last  of  the  preceding  chapter,  and 
thus  gave  the  meaning  "And  you  hath  he  filled  who 
were  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,"  which  is  indeed  the 
simplest  and  easiest  construction  and  brings  out  a 
beautiful  and  sublime  truth :  God  has  filled  you  with 
himself;  his  love,  his  grace,  his  gifts,  his  Holy  Spirit, 

122 


CHAPTER    II.    VERSES   1-10.  123 

are  in  you ;  ye  are  complete  (filled)  in  him  (Col.  ii. 
10) ;  3  e  are  filled  with  all  the  fullness  of  God  (Eph. 
iii.  19). 

Yet  I  cannot  believe  that  Paul  intended  this  in  our 
text.  Because  (1)  the  contrast  is  not  between  an 
empty  and  a  full  vessel,  but  between  a  dead  and  a 
living  man,  and  therefore  our  translators  have  well 
supplied  the  word  "  quickened,"  from  the  fifth  verse : 
^'you  hath  he  quickened.''  He  does  not  quicken  the 
hungry  and  fill  the  dead,  but  he  fills  the  hungry  and 
quickens  the  dead.  The  Scripture  speaks  of  filling 
the  valleys  (Luke  iii.  5)  ;  of  filling  up  the  measure  of 
dn  (Matt,  xxiii.  30-32) ;  of  filling  a  house  (Acts  ii.  2  ; 
John  xii.  3) ;  of  filling  a  city  with  doctrine  (Acts  v. 
28)  ;  and  many  other  similar  examples  occur  in  the 
Scripture.  On  the  other  hand,  the  usage  of  "quicken" 
is  equally  appropriate  and  distinctive.  The  dead  cre- 
ation draws  its  life  from  God,  and  hence  "  he  quicken- 
eth  all  things "  (1  Tim.  vi.  13)  ;  he  quickeneth  the 
spiritually  dead  (John  vi.  63)  and  the  literally  dead 
(Rom.  iv.  17;  viii.  11  ;  1  Cor.  xv.  22;  1  Pet.  iii.  18). 
From  all  which  we  conclude  that  the  dead,  in  our 
verse,  is  more  naturally  connected  with  the  "quick- 
ened "  of  ii.  5  than  the  "  filling "  of  i.  23.  But  (2) 
Col.  ii.  13  is  an  exactly  parallel  passage,  and  Paul 
there  uses  the  word  "  quickened ;"  so  that  it  is  natural 
to  conclude  that  here  also  the  same  striking  image 
was  in  his  mind.  But,  leaving  this  point  of  verbal 
criticism,  let  us  attend  to  the  solemn  statements  of  the 
apostle. 

First.  Ye  tvere  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins.  Those 
who,  following  Bom.  vi.  11,  would  translate  these 
words  "  dead  to  trespasses  and  sins "   (by  the  rite  of 


124  GKAHAM    ON    EPHESIANvS. 

bH})tism),  forget  the  very  subject  of  which  Paul  is 
speaking,  and  that  the  turning-point  in  the  passage  is 
verse  4.  The  meaning  is  as  clear  as  a  sunbeam,  and 
it  is  this  :  "  Ye  were  dead  in  or  by  means  of  sin."  No 
other  interpretation  is  possible.  This  is  very  solemn  : 
"  Ye  were  dead^ 

The  frightful  presence  of  death  is  manifested  in 
many  ways.  The  dead  have  no  motion;  they  cannot 
come  to  God ;  they  are  helpless  as  was  Lazarus  till  the 
voice  of  Jesus  reached  him ;  grace  alone  can  quicken 
the  dead  soul.  The  dead  have  no  sensation ;  they  are 
past  feeling ;  all  the  fountains  of  passion  and  emotion 
are  sealed  (Eph.  iv.  19)  ;  so  that  before  they  can  love 
God  or  hate  sin  they  must  get  a  new  life.  The  dead 
have  no  enjoyment;  food  satisfies,  beauty  pleases  and 
music  charms  no  more.  It  is  even  so.  Sin  has  per- 
verted the  moral  sense  and  shut  up  the  heart  against 
the  enjoyment  of  God  himself  His  character  and  his 
love  please  us  no  more.  All  the  wonders  of  grace,  as 
well  as  the  excellences  of  the  divine  character  which 
the  cross  reveals,  fall  upon  us  like  sunbeams  on  the 
eyes  of  the  dead.  Lastly,  the  dead  have  no  restorative 
'power.  Life — that  mysterious,  incomprehensible  prin- 
ciple which,  though  ever  present  with  us  and  filling 
all  things,  eludes  research  and  bafiles  reason — has  a 
wonderful  restorative  power.  Indeed,  life  is  a  sort  of 
miracle,  for  it  reverses,  suspends  and  modifies  most  of 
the  laws  of  nature.  In  every  plant,  in  every  livinj< 
creature,  you  see  life  assimilating  and  incorporating 
most  heterogeneous  elements,  counteracting  the  law 
of  gravity,  nullifying  the  most  potent  chemical  agencias 
and  resisting  the  mechanical  laws.  The  dead  are  desti- 
tute of  all  these  mysterious  powers;    they  remain  a„« 


CHAPTER    II.    VERSES  1-10.  125 

they  are,  or  they  become  more  and  more  corrupt. 
There  is  no  healing  process  going  on  in  the  dead  soul 
by  which,  in  the  course  of  nature,  it  can  become  pure 
and  healthy  and  happy  in  the  enjoyment  of  God.  It 
must  first  be  made  alive  before  it  can  exhibit  the 
symptoms  of  life.  This  is  the  first  assertion  of  the 
apostle :  "Ye  were  dead.'' 

This  fearful  sentence  is  universal,  and  has  continued 
ruling  over  us  since  the  beginning  of  the  world.  We 
may  imagine,  therefore,  what  the  enormity  of  apostasy 
must  be  in  the  sight  of  God,  when  one  transgression 
has  produced  such  fearful  and  universal  ruin ;  we 
may  conceive  how  awful  the  derangement  in  the  moral 
and  physical  world  must  be,  when  it  required  the  inter- 
ference of  incarnate  Love  to  repair  it ;  and  we  may 
rejoice  in  the  hope  of  that  transcendent  glory  which 
is  to  be  the  result  of  a  redemption  so  stupendous.  "  To 
be  dead  in  sins,"  says  Bloomfield,  "  is  to  be  entirely 
enslaved  to  sin,  as  a  dead  body  is  to  the  power  of  death, 
and  to  be  as  incai^able  of  rising  from  it  to  a  spiritual 
life  as  a  corpse  is  of  being  restored  to  natural  life." 
Error,  trespass  or  lapse  is  to  be  distinguished  from  sin, 
which  includes  the  more  deliberate  and  habitual  acts 
of  disobedience  to  God.  It  is  applied  to  the  first 
transgression  (Rom.  v.  17) ;  it  is  the  Hebrew  sin  of 
ignorance  (Ps.  xix.  13)  for  which  the  cities  of  refuge 
were  provided.  There  is  no  doubt,  however,  but  in  the 
New  Testament  the  word  is  often  used  for  sin  in  general 
(Rom.  iv.  25;  v.  15,  16,  20;  2  Cor.  v.  19;  Eph.  i.  7; 
Col.  ii.  13).  The  meaning,  then,  is  that  we  are  dead 
from  two  causes — the  ignorance  which  we  inherit  from 
the  fall,  and  the  law  of  sin  in  the  members  which  leads 
us  to  active  rebellion  against  God. 


12G  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

Second.  Wherein  in  time  past  ye  walked.  (1)  On 
which  observe  that  the  natural  evil  life  called  the  law 
of  sin  and  death  cannot  be  hid,  but  bursts  forth  in 
acts  of  all  kinds  like  an  overflowing  fountain.  They 
walked  in  them ;  they  had  pleasure  in  unrighteousness 
and  followed  the  idolatries  and  delusions  of  heathen- 
ism with  greediness.  Their  walk  was  not  with  God, 
who  loves  life  and  purity,  but  in  the  ways  of  iniquity, 
which  can  lead  only  to  death.  This  is  the  first  asser- 
tion of  the  apostle.  Sin  is  an  active  operative  princi- 
ple ;  we  walk  in  it  and  are  pleased  with  it.  (2)  It  was 
A  walk  "  according  to  the  course  of  this  world " — 
according  to  the  age  (aeov)  of  this  world,  the  present 
dispensation  of  evil,  when  death  reigns  and  Satan  rages 
and  all  things  are  laboring  under  the  bondage  of  cor- 
ruption (Gal.  i.  4).  This  course  or  age  of  the  world 
is  under  the  direction  of  Satan,  its  ruler  and  god 
(2  Cor.  iv.  4;  Eph.  vi.  12),  and  is  to  end  only  at  the 
coming  of  the  Lord  (Matt.  xiii.  39).  It  is  opposed 
to  the  world  to  come,  and  is  therefore  called  the  day 
of  man  (1  Cor.  iv.  3,  Greek  text),  because  it  is  in  all 
things  contrary  to  the  world  to  come,  which  is  called 
the  day  of  God.  The  course  of  this  world  is  exactly 
the  Zeitgeist  of  the  Germans,  and  may  well  be  rendered 
"  the  spirit  of  the  times."  He  that  walks  according  to 
this  spirit  is,  says  the  apostle,  dead  in  trespasses  and 
sins.  Brethren,  judge  yourselves,  that  ye  may  not  be 
judged.     The  spirit  of  the  world  is  evil. 

Third.  But  Paul  asserts  here  that  the  life  and  the 
walk  of  the  unregenerate  are  guided  and  governed  by 
the  devil,  who  is  here  called  "  the  prince  of  the  power 
of  the  air,"  where  the  abstract  power  is  put  for  the  con- 
crete "powerful  hosts,"  as  it  is  often    pnoudi  among 


CHAPTER    II.    VERSES   1-10.  127 

ourselves.  Theophylact  expounds  the  passage  by  call- 
ing Satan  the  prince  of  the  powerful  spirits  who  dwell 
in  the  air.  It  was  a  common  opinion  among  both 
heathen  and  Jews  that  the  air  was  full  of  spirits 
(Diogenes,  lib.  viii.  221)  whb  were  called  demons,  and 
whose  evil  influence  extended  to  the  human  race ;  and 
the  Jews  teach  (Pirke  Avoth),  "A  teora  usque  adjirma- 
mentum  omriia  esse  plena  turmis  et  prmfectis " — viz., 
"  From  the  earth  to  the  firmament,  all  things  are  filled 
with  multitudes  of  spirits  and  their  rulers."  Ignatius,  in 
his  epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  expounds  it  of  the  warfare 
of  the  earthly  and  aerial  spirits.  The  Holy  Scriptures 
give  no  sanction  to  the  dreams  of  the  Rabbins  or  the 
less  excusable  dreams  of  some  of  the  Fathers  concern- 
ing angels,  demons,  magic  and  the  warriors  of  the  air. 
Yet  we  may  gather  the  following  facts  from  the  word 
of  God  without  treading  on  the  boundaries  of  con- 
jecture. 

(1)  There  are  two  kingdoms — the  kingdom  of  light 
and  the  kingdom  of  darkness — upon  the  earth ;  these 
have  existed  since  the  fall,  and  will  continue  more  or 
less  mingled  together  till  the  coming  of  Christ,  when 
the  separation  shall  take  place,  and  the  righteous  and 
the  wicked  shall  be  gathered  into  the  two  poles  of  light 
and  of  darkness  called  heaven  and  hell. 

(2)  The  fallen  spirits  or  demons  headed  up  in  Satan, 
the  prince  of  darkness,  form  a  kind  of  diabolical  king- 
dom, whose  object  is  to  seduce  the  human  race  from 
their  allegiance  and  to  propagate  the  principles  of  de- 
ceit and  wickedness.  Satan  is  their  prince,  either  be- 
cause he  seduced  them  at  the  beginning  or  because  he 
is  the  mightiest  and  the  wisest,  to  whom,  willingly  or 
by  compulsion,  they  yield  some  sort  of  obedience. 


128  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

(3)  Though  imprisoned  in  chains  under  darkness 
(Jude  6),  they  have,  by  the  permission  of  God,  a  certain 
reach  and  compass  of  activity ;  so  that  they  can  interfere 
in  the  affairs  of  men  to  accomplish  their  diabolical  pur- 
poses. I  suppose  that  in  the  passages  where  Satan  and 
devil  are  mentioned  (there  is  only  one  devil)  he  is  to  be 
contemplated,  not  as  a  single  individual,  but  as  the 
prince  or  head  of  the  demons,  and  that  his  agency  is 
to  be  taken  as  the  consummated  villany  of  them  all. 
In  him,  roaring  round  us  like  a  lion  (1  Pet.  v.  8),  we 
have  all  the  accusations  which  a  broken  law,  a  guilty 
conscience  and  a  dreaded  judgment-day  can  bring 
against  us ;  in  him  we  see  embodied  the  principles  of 
ajDostasy  and  the  ever-deepening  hatred  to  God  and 
godliness  which  sin  leaves  in  the  heart  of  the  fallen 
creature. 

But  w^hat  do  we  know  of  his  agency?  We  know 
very  much  about  it,  and  in  the  same  way  that  we  know 
anything  of  the  agency  of  God — viz.,  from  the  Holy 
Scriptures.  We  know  that  Satan  and  his  demons  are 
in  every  way  the  enemies  of  God  (Matt.  iv.  1,  5,  6 ;  xiii. 
39;  XXV.  41;  Luke  iv.  2-13;  viii.  12;  John  xiii.  2; 
Acts  X.  38;  Eph.  iv.  27 ;  vi.  11 ;  1  Tim.  iii.  6,  7 ;  2 
Tim.  ii.  26 ;  Heb.  ii.  14 ;  James  iv.  7 ;  1  Pet.  v.  8 ; 
Jude  9 ;  Rev.  ii.  10)  ;  they  are  authors  of  moral  and 
spiritual  and  physical  evils  (1  Tim.  iv.  1 ;  James  ii.  19 ; 
Eph.  vi.  12)  ;  they  entered  into  the  bodies  of  men,  de- 
ranging the  mind  and  darkening  the  understanding 
(Luke  iv.  33,  34,  35 ;  viii.  27 ;  Matt.  xvii.  18 ;  Mark 
vii.  29).  By  divine  authority,  Jesus  in  the  name  of 
God,  and  the  apostles  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  cast  them 
out  (Matt.  vii.  22 ;  ix.  34 ;  x.  8 ;  xii.  24-28 ;  Mark  i. 
34,  39 ;  iii.  15,  22  ;  vi.  13  ;  vii.  26 ;  ix.  38,  etc.).     They 


CHAPTER    II.    VERSES  1-10.  129 

used  the  organs  of  men,  spoke  with  the  tongues  of  men, 
and  so  identified  themselves  with  the  human  conscious- 
ness and  will  that  neither  the  possessed  nor  the  beholder 
could  distino-uish  between  the  human  and  the  diabolic. 
This  is  clear  from  the  passages  already  referred  to.  We 
have  the  same  mystery  in  the  operations  of  the  Spirit 
of  God ;  the  believer  is  led,  guided  and  taught  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,  yet  no  man  can  positively  distinguish  the 
operations  of  the  Spirit  from  those  of  the  sanctified 
mind.  In  this  case  the  human  and  the  divine,  in 
the  other  the  human  and  the  diabolical,  are,  so  far 
as  we  are  concerned,  inextricably  blended  together.  In 
the  one  we  are  rewarded,  in  the  other  punished,  for  the 
work  of  another  in  us.  The  mystery  is  the  same,  and 
the  responsibility  remains  equally  in  both  cases.  It 
seems  that,  as  death  and  sin  are  the  elements  in  which 
these  wicked  sj)irits  delight,  so  they  frequent  the  scenes 
of  desolation  and  drive  their  victims  to  the  tombs  (Matt, 
xii.  43;  viii.  28;  Mark  v.  2;  Luke  viii.  27).  (Comp. 
Baruch  iv.  35,  "  she  shall  be  inhabited  of  devils  for  a 
long  time,"  and  Isa.  xiii.  21  and  xxiv.,  where  our  satyrs — 
Luther's '' FeldteufeV  and  De  Wette's  "  WaldteufeV'—\^ 
in  the  Septuagint  translated  "  demons.")  These  demons 
are  represented  as  doing  great  works  of  evil,  signs  and 
miracles  for  the  purposes  of  evil  (John  x.  21 ;  Kev.  xvi. 
14).  (Comp.  2  Thess.  ii.  9;  Rev.  xiii.  13;  xix.  20.) 
The  whole  image-worship,  idolatry  and  oracles  of  the 
heathen  were  their  work  (1  Cor.  x.  20,  21 ;  Acts  xvi. 
16  (Greek  text,  "  Apollo ") ;  Deut.  xxxii.  17  ;  Lev. 
xvii.  7  ;  Ps.  cvi.  37;  xci.  6,  Septuagint).  Such  are  the 
works  of  the  spirit  of  darkness,  represented  in  our  text 
as  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,  the  spirit  that  now 
worketh  in  the  children  of  disobedience. 

17 


130  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

Fourth.  Disobedience  seems  here  to  be  personified 
and  represented  as  the  mother  of  Satan's  household,  in 
which,  as  the  father  of  lies,  he  works  his  deeds  of  dark- 
ness :  "  The  spirit  that  nmv  worketh  in  the  children  of 
disobedience.'"  The  Greek  genitive  is  here  put  for  the 
accusative  by  anacolouthon.  Similar  anomalies  are  not 
infrequent  in  the  New  Testament,  and  indeed  in  most 
writers.  (See  Acts  xx.  3  ;  xix.  34 ;  xxiii.  30 ;  John  vi. 
20 ;  Gal.  ii.  6 ;  Winer's  Grammar,  440.)  Bloomfield 
thinks  the  preposition  according  to  involves  the  sense 
of  a  genitive  in  the  thought,  and  therefore  the  writer 
followed  the  sense  rather  than  the  grammatical  con- 
struction. Those  who  would  govern  spirit  by  acoi^, 
"  age  "  or  "  course,"  weaken  the  reasoning  of  the  apos- 
tle, and  must,  like  Macknight,  interpret  "  the  spirit  that 
now  worketh  in  the  children  of  disobedience  "  of  an 
evil  disposition  of  the  mind.  This  destroys  the  force 
and  beauty  of  the  passage  in  which  the  prince  of  the 
power  of  the  air  and  the  spirit  that  now  worketh  in  the 
children  of  disobedience  are  set  in  apposition  to  each 
other.  His  sphere  of  working,  his  circle  of  operation, 
is  in  the  children  of  disobedience.  Obey !  To  hear 
and  to  obey  is  the  law  of  the  universe,  from  the  high- 
est to  the  lowest  orders  of  being.  When  the  Creator 
speaks,  the  will  of  the  creature  sinks  into  his,  and  rea- 
son's highest  exercise  is  instant  submission.  It  is  fear- 
ful to  think  of  disobeying  God.  It  is  also  fearful  to 
think  that  there  is  no  neutral  ground  here.  If  God 
does  not  work  in  us,  the  devil  does.  The  temple  does 
not  remain  empty  ;  the  soul  is  too  noble  a  creature  to 
be  neglected.  Lord,  have  mercy  upon  us,  miserable 
sinners !  My  brother-man,  are  you  an  obedient  son 
— a  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus?     Or  are  you  stil]. 


CHAPTER   II.    VERSES   1-10.  131 

like  the  Ephesians,  a  slave  of  Satan  ?  Even  so  there  is 
hope  for  you  in  the  mercy  of  God,  for  the  apostle  says — 

Fifth.  Among  whom  also  ive  all  had  our  conversation. 
Among  whom  might  well  be  translated  "  In  which," 
referring  to  trespasses  and  sins  ;  but  the  present  trans- 
lation is  better  and  stronger.  There  is  a  beautiful 
change  of  person  here  which  is  full  of  significance  to 
the  interpreter  and  to  the  believer.  The  "  ye "  is 
changed  for  we,  in  order  to  show  the  universality  of 
sin,  and  also  that  the  writer  claimed  to  be  nothing 
better  by  nature  than  the  heathen  idolaters.  We  are 
all  in  the  same  condition ;  we  are  all  alike  sinful  be- 
fore God.  The  word  among,  indeed,  should  not  be 
taken  in  a  local  sense,  as  denoting  that  the  Jews  lived 
and  sinned  among  the  Gentiles,  but  rather  in  the  signi- 
fication of  "after  the  example  of,"  as  in  Heb.  iv.  11. 
The  conclusion  is  that  both  are  by  nature  equally 
guilty  and  need  equally  the  redemption  of  Christ. 

Conversation  does  not  mean  "  talking ;"  there  is  no  in- 
stance where  it  has  this  signification  in  the  English 
Bible.  It  means,  as  the  Greek  original  does,  "  de- 
portment," "  conduct,"  "  character,"  as  in  the  following 
passages :  2  Cor.  i.  12 ;  Gal.  i.  13  ;  Eph.  ii.  3 ;  iv.  22 ; 
1  Tim.  iv.  12;  Heb.  xiii.  5,  7;  James  iii.  13;  1  Pet. 
i.  15,  18 ;  ii.  12 ;  iii.  1,  2,  16 ;  2  Pet.  ii.  7  ;  iii.  11.  In 
Phil.  i.  27  conversation  signifies  "  citizenship ;"  so  that 
to  have  a  good  conversation  is  to  act  worthy  of  the 
New  Jerusalem,  to  which  grace  has  called  you.  But 
this  former  conduct  or  conversation  of  theirs  was  "  in 
the  lusts  of  the  flesh."  This  refers  (1)  to  carnal  or 
sensual  appetites,  in  which  the  heathen  world  was 
sunk,  and  Paul  asserts  in  the  text  that  the  Jews  were 
the  same  (Rom.  vi.  12 ;    vii.  8,  9 ;    1  Tim.  iv.  9 ;    and 


132  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

many  others).  This  implies  and  includes  luxury,  the 
pleasures  of  the  table,  drunkenness  and  all  such  for- 
bidden pleasures.  (2)  These  fleshly  desires  are  seen 
most  perfectly  in  the  systems  of  false  worship  adopted 
by  the  heathen  world  in  general.  Baalim  was  the  em- 
bodiment of  lewdness ;  Buddhism  is  the  embodiment 
of  the  dogma  of  priestly  rule ;  so  is  Hindooism  and 
so  are  other  forms  of  religion.  The  Greeks  and  the 
Komans  deified  nature  and  the  dead.  Popery  is  a 
religion  of  sacraments.  The  flesh  is  the  teeming  foun- 
tain of  vileness  from  which  all  these  and  similar  sys- 
tems flow ;  the  'picture,  the  image,  the  idol,  the  oracle, 
are  the  four  head-forms  or  developments  of  false  wor- 
ship, and  they  all  come  from  the  flesh.  (3)  Fleah  is 
always  contrasted  with  sjnrit,  and  in  general  denotes 
alienation  from  God.  The  law  of  the  flesh  is  sin  ;  the 
works  of  the  flesh  are  evil ;  the  carnal  mind  is  enmity 
against  God  (Rom.  viii.  6,  7) ;  to  walk  after  the  flesh 
is  ungodliness ;  to  be  in  the  flesh  is  not  to  know  or 
please  God.  Jesus  Christ  crucified  it,  and  he  gives 
us  the  principle  and  power  of  doing  the  same.  His 
worship  is  pure ;  there  is  nothing  carnal  in  it ;  its 
principle  is  grace,  and  it  means  the  law  of  love.  The 
hope  which  it  insj^ires  is  immortality,  and  its  end  is 
the  glory  of  God.  Then,  again,  it  is  said,  "  They 
fulfilled  the  desires  of  the  flesh  and  of  the  mind,'' 
literally  yielding  themselves  to  the  current  of  the  cor- 
rupt and  deceitful  lusts  of  the  flesh — to  all  the  stormy 
passions  of  the  mind,  as  anger,  wrath,  envy,  hatred, 
malice,  ambition,  and  such-like  enormities.  The  intel- 
lectual faculties  and  the  active  powers  of  man  are  all 
deranged  by  the  fall ;  the  whole  man,  mind  and  body,  is 
under  the  bondage  of  corruption ;  for  says  the  apostle — 


CHAPTEK    II.     VERSES   1-10.  133 

Sixth.  We  were  by  nature  the  children  of  wrath,  even 
as  others.  This  is  a  Hebrew  form  of  expression  which 
cannot  be  mistaken.  (See  Isa.  Ivii.  4 ;  Deut.  xxv.  2 ; 
2  Kings  xiv.  14.)  Deut.  xxv.  2  is  exactly  illustrative 
of  our  text,  for  the  Hebrew,  "  son  of  strokes,"  is  ren- 
dered, both  in  the  Septuagint  and  in  our  translation, 
"  worthy  of  blows."  This  mode  of  expression  is  very 
common  in  Scripture.  The  son  of  possession  is  the 
heir  (Gen.  xv.  2)  ;  the  son  of  oil  means  rich,  fat, 
fertile  (Isa.  v.  1)  ;  the  sons  of  the  lightning  are  flames 
of  fire  or  sparks  (Job  v.  7)  [some  translate  this  passage 
"  swift-flying  birds  of  prey  "]  ;  arrows  are  the  sons  of 
the  bow  (Job  xli.  20)  ;  the  morning  star  is  the  son  of 
the  dawn  (Isa.  xiv.  12).  In  the  New  Testament  be- 
lievers are  children  of  light,  children  of  wisdom,  chil- 
dren of  God,  etc.  On  the  other  hand.  Antichrist  is 
the  son  of  perdition  (2  Thess.  ii.  3)  ;  his  followers,  the  . 
children  of  the  curse  (2  Pet.  ii.  14).  Wicked  men 
are  the  children  of  the  devil  (1  John  iii.  10).  Fallen 
men  are  the  children  of  wrath  (Eph.  ii.  3).  To  be 
a  child  of  wrath,  then,  is  to  be  deserving  the  wrath 
of  God.  This  is  the  terrible  sentence  of  the  apostle. 
All  men  are  under  wrath.  They  have  forfeited  their 
creation-standing,  and  the  curse  of  a  broken  law 
rests  on  them.  The  same  dark  thunder-cloud  of  wrath 
is  suspended  over  both  Jew  and  Gentile,  for  they  are 
all  children  of  wrath,  not  by  practice  only,  but  also 
by  nature.  This  is  the  hereditary  taint  which,  like 
a  subtle  poison,  has  spread  itself  through  the  diseased 
body  of  mankind  since  the  fall — which  is,  indeed, 
partly  cured  by  the  gospel,  and  shall  be  finally  eradi- 
cated at  the  resurrection.  The  great  law  of  Jehovah, 
that  like  «Kall  produce  like,  runs  its  course,  and  the 


134  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

descendants  of  the  fallen  must  remain  fallen  and  leave 
fallen  successors  behind  them  until  it  shall  please  the 
Creator  to  alter  the  constitution  of  the  human  race. 
Nor  does  it  serve  any  good  purpose  to  torture  the 
text,  like  a  saint  writhing  under  the  hands  of  papal 
inquisitors,  by  the  most  improved  methods  of  textual 
and  verbal  criticism.  Nature  will  remain  nature  after 
ignorance  and  unbelief  have  done  their  utmost  to  per- 
vert the  meaning  of  the  text.  By  nature,  then — that 
is,  by  the  law  of  their  birth  and  generation — all  men 
are  children  of  wrath.  What !  the  whole  race  ?  Yes, 
the  whole  race,  without  any  exception,  save  One  ;  and 
if  you  think  this  conclusion  fearful,  then  flee  to  the 
refuge  which  God  has  provided  in  his  Son  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord.  He  is  the  way  and  the  truth  and  the  life. 
Come  to  the  cross ;  you  are  safe  there.  He  delivers 
from  the  wrath  to  come.  You  are  no  worse  than 
others.  We  are  all  descendants  of  the  same  common 
father,  and  share  his  fortunes.  We  sinned  in  him  and 
fell  with  him.  The  streams  are  not  sweeter  than  the 
fountain  that  sent  them  forth.  Yea,  they  rather  settle 
into  stagnant  pools  of  unendurable  pollution.  The 
Flood,  indeed,  washed  away  the  memorials  of  our  guilt, 
but  the  very  ark  bore  within  it  the  fountain  of  vileness. 
which  poured  forth  its  bitter  waters  before  the  deluge 
had  fully  subsided.  Thus  the  tree  remains  corrupt, 
and  the  fountain  remains  bitter,  and  the  viper-blood 
retains  the  venom  of  the  serpent,  to  the  last ;  and  there 
is  no  way  of  escape  for  you  or  for  me,  or  for  any,  save 
in  the  eternal  mercy  which  has  0})ened  a  door  of  hope 
in  the  redemption  of  Jesus  Christ.     For — 

Seventh.   God  who  is  rich  in   mercy,  for   the  great 
love  wherewith   he  loved  us,  etc.   (ver.  4).     Here   the 


CHAPTER    II.     VERSES   1-10.  135 

apostle  leaves  the  character  of  man  and  leads  us  to 
contemplate  the  character  of  God.  We  have  seen  the 
creature,  and  we  are  now  to  see  the  Creator.  The 
depths  of  sin  and  apostasy  are  to  be  met  in  the  depths 
of  divine  mercy ;  so  that  the  fall  and  the  recovery,  the 
disease  and  the  remedy,  the  malignity  of  Satan  and  the 
benevolence  of  God,  are  parts  of  the  apostolic  picture. 
But  is  the  turning-point  in  the  sentence :  "  Ye  were, 
but  God  is ;"  ye  were  children  of  wrath,  but  God  is 
rich  in  mercy.  Let  us,  then,  with  joyous  hearts  con- 
template for  a  little  the  riches  of  God  as  unfolded  in 
his  word. 

Mercy  is  the  aspect  of  God  which  the  sinner  first 
and  most  needs.  While  we  are  condemned  criminals  it 
is  vain  to  speculate  on  crowns  or  coronets  or  heavenly 
mansions.  The  guilt  must  be  removed,  the  condem- 
nation obliterated,  in  the  first  place;  and  to  comfort 
fallen  sinners  Paul  announces  that  God  is  rich  in 
mercy.  Who  dwells  in  the  cloudy  sky?  Shall 
he  receive  or  reject  the  penitent?  Dare  I  approach 
his  awful  throne,  all  wretched  and  guilty  as  I  am? 
The  apostle  answers.  He  is  rich  in  mercy. 

But  let  us  contemplate  the  riches  of  God  a  little 
more  generally,  and  see  how  his  bounty  meets  and 
supplies  all  our  wants. 

(1)  We  are  creatures  who  have  lost  all,  have  noth- 
ing and  need  much ;  and  to  meet  this  God  is  rich  in 
goodness  (E-om.  ii.  4) .  He  is  good — that  is,  he  is  God ; 
for  the  name  "  God ''  is  derived  from  his  goodness.  He 
is  the  Good  One — the  fountain  from  which  all  good  gifts 
flow.  The  earth  and  the  heavens,  the  laws  of  the 
moral  and  physical  worlds,  are  conceived  and  estab- 
lished out  of  pure  goodness.     His  fullness   overflows, 


136  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

and  worlds  and  boundless  systems  of  worlds  arise  to 
manifest  and  enjoy  liis  goodness. 

(2)  Are  we  impotent  and  incapable  of  procuring  the 
divine  favor?  Then,  says  Paul,  he  is  rich  in  grace 
(Eph.  ii.  7),  which  is  the  same  nearly  as  "the  rich  in 
mercy  "  of  my  text.  You  need  no  merit,  you  require 
no  preparation,  in  coming  to  God.  He  is  rich  in 
grace,  and  grace  excludes  the  very  idea  of  merit  and 
the  works  of  the  law  altogether.  Do  not  wait  to  get 
new  clothes  or  to  put  on  clean  ones.  Come  to 
God  at  once, 

"  Just  as  you  are,  without  one  plea 
But  that  the  Saviour  died  for  thee." 

Come,  and  he  will  give  you  the  new  robes,  the  new 
name,  the  new  hope,  the  new  heart.  He  will  make  all 
things  new. 

(3)  But  wherein  is  this  riches  of  mercy  seen?  It 
is  seen  in  the  degradation  and  ruin  from  which  it 
delivers  us ;  it  is  seen  in  the  glory  and  blessedness 
to  which  we  are  raised ;  it  is  seen  in  the  number 
and  heinousness  of  the  sins  which  it  forgives ;  and  it  is 
seen  in  the  greatness  of  the  number  of  the  saved.  The 
scheme  of  mercy  embraces  all  the  ages  of  the  world 
and  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  the  glorious  issue 
will  be  the  myriads  of  the  heavenly  companies  around 
the  throne  (Rev.  v.  9-11 ;  xiv.  1-3).  We  believe  that  all 
children  dying  in  infancy  are  saved  through  this  mercy, 
and  this  makes  at  once  nearly  one-third  of  the  human 
race.  We  may  hope  also  that  many  of  the  heathen  who 
have  never  heard,  and  therefore  have  never  rejected,  the 
gospel  may  be  allowed  to  share  the  riches  of  his  mercy. 
Then  we  must  also  remember  that  in  the  millennial  ages 


CHAPTEK    II.    VERSES   1-10.  137 

the  whole  earth  shall  be  filled  with  the  knowledge  of 
the  Lord  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea ;  so  that  we  may 
well  believe  that,  taking  the  race  of  man  as  a  whole, 
the  lost  may  bear  some  such  proportion  to  the  saved  as 
the  convicts  and  criminals  do  to  the  peaceable  in- 
habitants in  a  well-ordered  state.  He  is  rich  in 
mercy. 

(4)  But  there  is  still  another  aspect  of  the  human 
character  which  the  riches  of  God  meets.  We  lono; 
for  power,  for  fame,  for  glory  and  immortality.  We 
would  be  great,  and  the  aspiration  is  not  in  itself 
wrong,  but  it  is  often  misdirected.  We  find  ourselves 
in  this  world  bounded  on  every  side  by  insurmount- 
able barriers,  baffling  all  our  efforts  of  knowledge  and 
of  power.  But  are  we  satisfied  ?  No,  no !  The  soul 
longs  for  complete  knowledge,  pines  for  the  possession 
of  power,  seeks  to  wing  her  flight  through  the  spark- 
ling stars  and  circumambient  worlds  up  to  the  empyrean 
throne  itself,  from  whence  proceed  such  manifestations 
of  wisdom,  beauty  and  strength.  And  God  meets  this 
longing  of  the  soul  by  that  other  word,  "the  riches  of 
his  glory"  (Phil.  iv.  19).  He  is  rich  in  goodness,  he 
is  rich  in  grace,  he  is  rich  in  mercy,  and  he  is  rich  in 
glory.  Here  honorable  ambition  may  expand  itself;  and 
the  soul,  enlarged  and  purified  by  the  Spirit  of  God, 
may  drink  deeply  and  more  deeply  for  ever,  may  ascend 
higher  and  higher  for  ever,  may  approach  for  ever  and 
for  evermore,  in  love,  wisdom,  knowledge  and  power,  the 
character  of  Him  who  loved  us  and  whom  we  love,  who 
was  born  in  a  stable  and  executed  on  a  cross,  who  is 
God  over  all  and  blessed  for  ever,  the  Redeemer  of  our 
souls  and  the  Judge  of  the  world.  He  is  rich  in  glory. 
Glorious  hope  for  our  longing  souls !     Come  on,  then, 

18 


138  GEAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

brother !  Be  of  good  cheer :  great  thmgs  are  before 
us.  We  shall  get  behind  the  scenes  yet,  and  contem- 
plate wisdom,  power  and  strength  in  their  unapparent 
fountains,  and  perhaps  hold  unutterable  communion 
with  the  Infinite  himself.  This  is  something  for  those 
who  were  children  of  wrath.  But  this  is  the  way  of 
God.  His  path  is  in  the  deep  waters,  and  his  mercy, 
like  the  bow  in  the  cloud,  never  seems  so  glorious  as 
when  shining  over  a  stormy  and  deserted  world. 

(5)  Mercy  is  nearly  allied  to  pain  or  misery,  and 
the  ideas  are  in  most  languages  connected.  It  is  not 
impossible  that  the  Greek  eleos,  "  mercy,"  may  come 
from  the  Hebrew  chil,  "  to  be  in  pain,"  as  the  English 
word  is  from  misericordia,  the  "  pain  of  the  heart," 
the  sorrow  which  goodness  feels  at  the  sight  of  wretch- 
edness and  woe.  It  is  this  feeling  (if  we  may  apply 
it  so)  in  the  heart  of  our  heavenly  Father  which  is 
the  fountain  of  redemption.  (See  Luke  i.  50,  78.) 
It  is  applied  to  Christ  (Jude  21).  The  word,  how- 
ever, though  properly  signifying  "mercy,"  is  applied 
in  the  Scriptures  in  a  much  wider  sense,  and  some- 
times expresses  the  ideas  of  piety,  goodness  and  relig- 
ion in  general  (Matt.  ix.  13;  xii.  7).  The  Greek 
phrase  to  do  mercy  with — that  is,  to  show  mercy  to 
any  one  (Luke  i.  72 ;  x.  37  ;  James  ii.  13) — is  the  ex- 
act translation  of  a  similar  construction  in  Hebrew 
(Gen.  XX.  13;  1  Sam.  xv.  6).  But  let  us  now  pro- 
ceed to  the  next  clause,  which  is — 

Eighth.  For  his  great  love  wherewith  he  loved  us. 
Mercy,  then,  flows  to  us  through  love.  Love  is  the 
fountain,  and  mercy  is  one  of  the  streams  that  flow 
from  it.  This  love  of  God  is  twofold,  according  to 
the  objects  on  which  it  rests,  and  may  be  called  the 


CHAPTER    II.    VERSES  1-10.  139 

love  of  pity  and  the  love  of  complacency  ;  for  certainly 
the  feeling  with  which  he  loved  and  loves  the  world, 
fallen  and  wretched  and  rebellious,  must  be  altogether 
different  from  the  love  which  he  bears  to  the  Church 
which  he  has  redeemed  and  purified,  and  ornamented 
as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband.  His  love  of  pity 
leads  him  to  relieve  the  wretched ;  his  love  of  com- 
placency is  attracted  by  the  pure  and  the  beautiful. 
The  love  of  pity  is  the  fountain  of  redemption ;  the 
love  of  complacency  is  the  fountain  of  glory.  The 
love  of  pity  is  general,  and  has  no  limit  save  the  cir- 
cumference of  misery ;  the  love  of  complacency  moves 
in  a  smaller  circle,  and  rests  only  on  the  holy  and  the 
good.  Pity  goes  out  into  the  highways  and  hedges  to 
relieve  its  objects,  and  complacency  draws  them  to 
itself  to  enjoy  them.  Incarnation  shows  love  coming 
to  relieve,  and  ascension  shows  love  drawing  up  its  object 
to  glorify  and  enjoy  it.  The  incarnate  God  standing  on 
our  earth  is  the  expression  of  Jehovah's  pity  for  man- 
kind. The  Son  of  man  glorified  in  the'  Father's  throne 
is  the  type  and  expression  of  his  love  to  the  Church. 
This  is  the  Scripture  doctrine  of  a  universal,  and  yet 
a  special,  love  of  God.  The  Methodists  dwell  on  the 
love  of  compassion  for  all,  and  the  Calvinists  on  his 
love  of  complacency  to  the  Church.  They  are  not 
inconsistent.  Love  is  associated  with  God  in  many 
ways  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  each  seems  to  bring 
to  light  lovelier  and  brighter  views  of  his  character. 
(1)  He  is  the  God  of  love — the  very  Source  and 
Fountain  from  which  all  love  flows.  It  dwelt  eternally 
in  him,  and  he  is  the  Author  of  whatever  streams  of  it 
may  be  found  in  us  and  the  other  creatures.  This  is  a 
very  attractive  view  of  God,  and  teaches  us  to  praise 


140  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

him  for  the  gift  of  a  tender  and  loving  heart.  (See  2 
Cor.  xiii.  11.)  Ood  is  love  (1  John  iv.  8).  He  identi- 
fies it  with  himself,  and  claims  love  as  the  true  and  ex- 
pressive token  of  his  presence.  In  his  nature,  in  the 
glorious  attributes  of  his  majesty,  in  the  creation  of  the 
boundless  universe,  and  still  more  especially  in  the 
cross  of  Christ,  he  is  love.  The  signs  and  tokens  of 
love  are  four :  {a)  We  think  of  those  whom  we  love. 
Love  begins  in  the  heart  and  leads  away  the  thought-s 
over  seas,  rivers,  mountains,  and  all  kinds  of  impedi- 
ments, to  its  object.  Such  is  the  love  of  God.  Its 
dwelling-place  is  his  own  bosom,  and  before  all  worlds 
his  delights  were  with  the  sons  of  men.  (b)  Love  seeks 
fellowship  with  its  object,  and  God  visited  us  in  the 
person  of  his  Son  that  he  might  woo  our  fond  hearts 
from  the  world  to  himself,  (c)  True  love  willingly 
suffers  for  its  object  if  need  be,  and  the  affection  which 
abides  not  this  test  is  not  genuine.  God  cannot  suffer, 
but  his  incarnate  Son  did,  and  all  the  fountains  of  the 
great  deep  of  divine  sorrow  were  broken  up  on  the 
cross,  (d)  Lastly,  love  seeks  to  exalt  its  object ;  and  so 
God,  having  taken  our  nature  into  union  with  his  own, 
exalted  and  glorified  the  Son  of  man,  our  Elder  Brother 
ind  Head,  with  his  own  right  hand,  in  heavenly  places, 
far  above  all  principality  and  power. 

(2)  The  form  love  of  God  is  used  by  the  Greeks  and 
by  us,  and  by  all  nations,  in  both  an  active  and  a  passive 
sense — that  is,  the  love  which  he  bears  to  us  (Rom.  v, 
5 ;  Eph.  ii.  4)  and  the  love  which  we  bear  to  him  (Luke 
xi.  42;  John  v.  42 ;  1  John  ii.  5).  In  our  text  it  is 
active.  It  is  the  love  wherewith  he  loved  us — that 
boundless  love  which  ever  flows  and  never  ebbs  in 
the  heart  of  God. 


CHAPTEK    II.    VERSES   1-10.  141 

(3)  The  apostle  calls  it  great  much — abundant,  mani- 
fold love.  We  see  this  greatness  in  the  character  and 
majesty  of  the  Giver,  in  the  fullness  and  worth  of  the 
gift,  in  the  greatness  of  the  obstacles  which  it  had  to 
yurmount  before  it  could  reach  us,  and  in  the  glorious 
end  which  it  had  in  view — the  redemption  of  a  world. 
His  love  to  us  was  indeed  great.  Follow  his  Son  from 
Bethlehem  to  the  tomb,  from  the  tomb  to  the  depths  of 
Hades,  and  from  thence  to  the  right  hand  of  God,  and 
say,  "What  brought  him  through  such  spheres?"  and 
the  answer  is,  Love — his  love  to  thee.  He  would  show 
us  what  his  Father  is  and  how  truly  great  his  love  can 
be.  He  would  silence  thy  fears,  brother,  by  revealing 
to  thy  heart  a  God  of  love.     As  our  great  poet  says, 

"  Love  without  end,  and  without  measure  grace." 

(4)  This  love  is  enhanced  still  more  by  its  being  ex- 
ercised toward  us  when  we  were  dead  in  trespasses  and 
sins.  We  were  dead  when  he  quickened  us,  unloving 
when  he  loved  us,  and  lying  in  our  blood  when  he  said, 
"  Live !"  He  begins  the  work  of  grace  in  the  soul.  If 
we  love  him,  it  is  because  he  first  loved  us  ;  if  we  choose 
him  freely  as  our  portion,  it  is  because  he  chose  us  in 
his  Son  before  the  foundation  of  the  world  (Eph. 
i.  4)- 

Ninth.  Even  when  we  were  dead  in  sins,  hath  quick- 
ened us  together  with  Christ  {by  grace  ye  are  saved)  ; 
and  hath  raised  us  up  together,  and  made  us  sit  together 
in  heavenly  places  in  Christ  Jesus :  that  in  the  ages  to 
come  he  might  show  the  exceeding  riches  of  his  grace  in 
his  kindness   toward    us    through    Christ    Jesus    (ver. 

5-7). 

The  believer^ s  union  with  Christ.     This  truth,  in  the 


142  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

hands  of  the  apostle,  becomes  the  centre  of  a  system  of 
divine  operations  in  Christ  and  in  the  Church.  Jesus 
Christ  is  not  contemplated  as  an  individual  man,  but 
as  the  federal  Head  and  Sustainer  of  the  body — the 
Husband  from  whose  side  the  New-Testament  bride  was 
taken,  the  Foundation-Stone  on  which  the  temple  rests, 
the  second  Adam  and  Lord  from  heaven,  in  whom  the 
destinies  of  the  human  family  are  summed  up  and  un- 
folded. Hence  the  apostle  refers  to  this  union,  the  mani- 
fold works  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  converting,  quickening 
and  glorifying  the  Church. 

(1)  He  hath  quickened  us  together  ivith  Christ.  The 
translation  is  quite  literal,  and  the  doctrine  clear  and 
beautiful.  To  quicken  together  with  occurs  only  in  our 
text  and  in  Colossians  (ii.  13),  where  it  is  followed  by 
with  (sun),  and  the  meaning  explained  by  the  words 
"  having  forgiven  you  all  trespasses ;"  and  in  our  text 
it  is  explained  by  the  parenthetical  clause  "  by  grace  ye 
are  saved."  This  quickening  is  the  spiritual  resurrec- 
tion of  the  soul  from  the  state  of  sin  and  death  as  the 
prelude  and  pledge  of  the  literal  resurrection  at  the 
coming  of  the  Lord.  But  how  is  our  quickening  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  connected  with  the  resurrection  of  Christ? 
I  answer.  The  believer  is,  in  the  word  and  in  the  divine 
Mind,  always  contemplated  in  union  with  his  Head  and 
Kedeemer.  He  was  chosen  in  him  (Eph.  i.  4)  :  so  we 
are  crucified  with  him  (Gal.  ii.  20)  ;  we  are  buried  with 
him  by  baptism  unto  death  (E-om.  vi.  4).  Our  text 
says  we  are  quickened  with  him  in  his  resurrection,  and 
we  have  ascended  with  him  from  Mount  Olivet  to  the 
heavenly  places.  What  passed  upon  the  Head  passed 
upon  the  members ;  and  all  the  members  of  his  body 
are,  in  the  purpose  of  the  Father  and  in  their  own 


CHAPTER    II.    VERSES   1-10.  143 

unconquerable  faith,  identified  with  the  dying,  rising 
and  glorified  One.  He  took  their  place ;  he  bore  their 
burden  ;  he  expiated  their  guilt.  Hence  we  reckon  our- 
selves dead  indeed  unto  sin,  but  alive  unto  God  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  In  all  our  trials  and  tempta- 
tions we  draw  comfort  and  strength  and  assurance  of 
victory  from  the  death  and  resurrection  of  our  victori- 
ous Head.  We  say  to  sin,  death  and  the  devil,  when 
they  come  to  tempt  us,  "  What  have  we  to  do  with  you? 
We  are  dead  already ;  we  have  risen  with  Jesus ;  the 
law  has  been  kept  for  us,  and  Satan,  the  accuser,  has 
been  cast  out."  This  is  our  answer  to  all  our  enemies. 
This  is  the  strength  and  victory  of  faith. 

(2)  Consider  your  position  as  believers,  and  mark  the 
power  of  faith  and  the  consequences  that  flow  from  it. 
You  are  not  only  quickened,  but  raised  up  and  seated 
with  him  in  the  heavenly  places.  This  does  not  mean 
merely  that  you  are  baptized  and  made  members  of  the 
visible  Church,  or  that  you  are  believers  in  the  ortho- 
dox faith — though  these  are  doubtless  great  blessings — 
for  regeneration  itself  is  an  "  earthly  "  thing  (John  iii. 
12).  The  heavenly  things  are  those  connected  with  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  and  the  heavenly  places  are  the 
mansions  which  Jesus  has  gone  to  prepare.  Faith 
measures  no  distances  of  space  or  time,  but,  fixing  the 
eye  steadily,  like  Stephen,  on  the  Conqueror  and  Elder 
Brother,  reasons  thus  in  the  heart  of  the  believer :  "  In 
him  I  have  died  to  sin ;  in  him  I  have  escaped  from 
the  power  of  Satan  by  resurrection ;  in  him  I  have  as- 
cended to  the  heavenly  mansions.  I  am  complete  in 
him.  My  heart,  my  home,  my  treasure,  are  all  in 
heaven.  My  Lord,  my  Love,  my  Life,  is  there  also. 
Faith  shall  soon  be  changed  into    sight,  and  I  shall 


144  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

see  him  as  he  is,  and  be  with  him  and  like  him  for 
ever." 

(3)  The  seventh  verse  shows  the  purpose  which  God 
had  in  view  in  these  acts  of  love  and  power — to  man- 
ifest the  riches  of  his  grace.  The  great  end  is  self- 
manifestation.  He  will  exhibit  to  the  world  of  angels 
and  of  men  as  much  as  may  be  needful  and  as  they  can 
bear  of  his  fullness.  He  still  remains  the  unknown, 
the  unutterable,  the  unapproachable,  God ;  but  such 
radiance  as  we  can  bear  breaks  forth  from  the  Fount 
of  glory.  God  has  quickened  us  and  raised  us  up  with 
Christ,  says  the  apostle,  to  teach  the  future  ages  the 
riches  of  his  grace.  Fishermen  and  tent-makers  shall 
now  fish  for  men  and  build  up  the  spiritual  temple  of 
God.  The  weak  are  made  strong,  the  poor  are  made 
rich,  the  ignorant  are  made  wise,  by  grace.  Grace 
shall  make  despised  Galileans  and  Nazarenes  more  ex- 
cellent and  honorable  than  princes,  more  noble  in  their 
deportment  than  kings,  more  steadfast  in  purpose  and 
more  fearless  in  danger  than  the  legions  of  the  Caesars. 
Here  is  love  which  is  stronger  than  death ;  here  is 
patience  which  persecution  cannot  conquer ;  here  is  a 
purely  moral  force — the  force  of  victorious  grace — 
which  wins  its  way  to  the  stern  heart  of  the  persecutor 
and  plants  the  cross  on  the  throne  of  the  Caesars.  He 
will  show  all  ages  and  generations  what  grace  can  make 
us  do  and  suffer  for  his  sake,  what  strength  and  beauty 
and  meekness,  what  heroism  and  moral  constancy,  lie 
sleeping  in  the  human  mind,  ready  to  be  awakened  by 
the  hand  of  grace.  None  should  despair  of  becoming 
or  doing  anything  when  grace  has  made  us,  the  apostles, 
what  we  are.  But  we  should  not  limit  the  us,  in  verse 
7,  to  the  apostles.     It  embraces  the  whole  Church  and 


CHAPTER    II.    VERSES   1-10.  145 

the  whole  period  of  the  Church's  history,  and  is  in- 
tended to  show  us  the  plan  of  the  ages  (Eph.  iii.  11) 
which  he  has  purposed  in  the  Clirist  for  the  unfolding 
of  his  manifold  wisdom  by  the  Church  in  the  sight  of 
men  and  angels  and  the  whole  universe.  The  election, 
the  redemption,  the  Headship  of  Christ,  the  quickening 
and  building  up  of  a  Church,  the  advent  and  work  of 
the  Spirit,  the  intercession  of  Christ  in  heaven,  his 
coming  again,  the  resurrection  of  the  righteous  and 
the  everlasting:  kingdom  are  but  parts  of  the  eternal 
purpose  of  the  Father  for  manifesting  the  riches  of 
his  grace.  This  grace,  too,  is  given  out  of  mere  kind- 
ness or  goodness,  and,  like  every  other  gift,  comes 
through  Christ  Jesus. 

What  a  view  this  gives  us  of  God !  How  grace 
abounds  over  sin !  What  a  view  of  the  worth  and 
dignity  of  man !  The  fallen  race  lifted  up  in  Jesus 
to  the  heights  of  glory  and  made  the  medium  for 
manifesting  God  to  the  whole  creation  for  ever !  We 
can  hardly  believe  it.  Faith  staggers  at  the  riches 
of  God's  grace,  and  even  the  eye  of  hope  recoils  from 
such  peerless  honor  and  glory. 

Tentk.  For  by  grace  are  ye  saved  through  faith  ; 
and  that  not  of  yourselves :  it  is  the  gift  of  God ;  not 
of  works,  lest  any  man  should  boast.  For  we  are  his 
workmanship,  created  in  Christ  Jesus  unto  good  works, 
which  God  hath  before  ordained  that  we  should  walk 
in  them  (ver,  8-10). 

Salvation  by  grace.  "  By  grace  are  ye  saved."  This 
is  the  glorious  assurance  which  faith  in  the  divine  tes- 
timony brings  into  the  heart.  It  is  an  ever-continu- 
ing enjoyment  and  an  ever-dawning  hope,  by  which 
the  two  kingdoms,  the  j^resent  and  the  future,  the  vis- 

19 


146  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

ible  and  the  invisible,  are  brought  to  meet.  Ye  are 
saved.  The  apostle  says  nothing  of  a  salvable  condi- 
tion in  which  grace  gives  us  some  help  in  the  way  of 
saving  ourselves.  He  speaks  the  language  of  faith 
universally,  which  has  its  function  specially  in  its  ap- 
propriating power ;  we  are  dead,  we  are  risen,  we  have 
ascended  with  our  Lord,  we  are  saved.  We  will  not 
doubt  the  goodness  and  the  faithfulness  of  God.  He 
has  begun  and  he  will  finish  the  work.  His  promises 
are  yea  and  ameri  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  we  are  enabled 
and  warranted  to  say  with  joyful  confidence,  "  We  are 
saved  y 

^^For  by  grace  are  ye  saved."  Every  word  is  em- 
phatic here,  and  for  is  full  of  deep  significance.  It 
carries  us  back  to  the  wonderful  works  just  mentioned. 
Are  ye  astonished  at  these  glories — Jesus  at  the  right 
hand  of  God,  the  Church  quickened,  the  overflowing 
riches  of  God's  grace,  the  assurance  of  the  believer? 
Then  remember  it  is  all  by  grace ;  and  when  the  God 
of  grace  works,  he  works  in  a  manner  worthy  of  him- 
self These  blissful  tidings  are  worthy  of  all  accep- 
tation, for  grace  is  the  fountain  of  them  all. 

This  salvation  by  grace  is  directly  opposed  to  sal- 
vation by  works,  and  characterizes  the  gospel  as  dis- 
tinguished from  all  other  forms  of  religion.  Here 
pardoning  mercy  is  proclaimed  from  on  high,  and  all 
sinners  are  invited  to  accept  it  without  money  and 
without  price.  It  is  opposed  to  the  mixtures  of  the 
papists,  by  which  the  merits  of  the  Redeemer  are  rep- 
resented as  a  standing  capital  to  supplement  the  defi- 
ciencies of  the  saints;  it  is  opposed  to  sacramental 
religion  in  general,  by  which  the  external  acts  of  cer- 
tain ecclesiastical  functionaries  pass  over  the  child,  the 


CHAPTER    II.    VEKSES   1-10.  147 

boy  and  the  man,  until  finally,  in  the  article  of  death, 
by  anointing  or  confession,  he  is  transmitted  to  the 
other  world  as  formally  as  a  package  by  the  railway, 
w^hile  the  conversion  of  the  soul  and  personal  faith 
may  have  nothing  to  do  in  the  matter.  We  are  not 
so  saved,  says  Paul,  for  we  are  saved  by  grace.  This 
salvation  by  grace,  however,  is  received  through  faith. 
Faith  is  the  hand  that  receives  the  gift,  the  eye  that 
sees  God's  riches,  the  ear  that  hears  his  voice.  With- 
out this  the  soul  must  remain  within  the  limits  which 
the  law  of  sin  and  death  has  assigned  her ;  her  ener- 
gies are  cramped  and  fearfully  misdirected,  her  eye 
and  ear  sealed  against  the  heavenly  message  and  all 
her  inner  fountains  tainted  with  the  poison  of  sin. 
Faith  opens  the  prison  and  admits  the  light,  while  a 
new  principle  of  life  vivifies  all  within,  and  new  and 
immortal  hopes  break  through  the  clouds  without. 
Hence  the  solemn  assertion  of  the  Scripture  that  with- 
out faith  it  is  impossible  to  please  God.  This  very 
faith,  too,  Paul  adds,  is  the  gift  of  God.  Theophylact 
says  here,  "■  Not  faith,  but  salvation  through  faith,  is 
the  gift  of  God ;"  and  many  have  followed  the  same 
judgment.  Most  Arminians,  indeed,  argue  that  the 
Greek  neuter  pronoun  for  "that"  cannot  refer  to  faith, 
which  is  feminine.  But,  in  the  first  place,  the  Greeks 
may  and  do  use  this  pronoun,  as  we  use  the  word  "that" 
and  the  Germans  das,  in  reference  to  all  genders,  hav- 
ing the  word  thirig  understood.  Thus  in  Phil.  i.  28 
this  same  neuter  refers  to  a  feminine  antecedent;  in 
Eph.  vi.  8  the  same  neuter  pronoun  has  no  neuter 
antecedent;  to  which  add  Gal.  iii.  17;  iv.  19.  The 
same  usage  is  frequent  among  the  best  classical  writers ; 
so  that  there  is  no  grammatical  objection  to  the  asser- 


148  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

tion  that  faith  is  the  gift  of  God.  But,  secondly, 
Paul  has  told  us  already,  in  verses  4,  5,  6,  that  sal- 
vation is  in  every  conceivable  way  from  God,  and  it 
is  not  easy  to  suppose  that  he  repeats  the  same  in 
verse  8 ;  whereas  the  sense  is  beautiful  and  rises  to 
a  noble  climax  when  we  interpret  the  words  in  their 
natural  order,  thus :  Your  new  life  is  a  gift ;  your  posi- 
tion as  risen  with  Christ  is  a  gift ;  the  object  on  whom 
you  believe,  the  Son  of  God,  is  a  gift ;  and  the  faith 
by  which  ye  receive  it  is  also  a  gift.  All  is  grace ; 
the  salvation  and  the  faith  are  alike  from  him ;  and 
hence  the  apostle  adds,  "  Not  of  works,  lest  any  man 
should  boast.  For  we  are  his  workmanship,  created 
in  Christ  Jesus  unto  good  works,  which  God  hath 
before  ordained  that  we  should  walk  in  them." 


CHAPTER   V. 

Wherefore  remember,  that  ye  being  in  time  past  Gentiles  in  the 
flesh,  who  are  called  Uncircumcision  by  that  which  is  called  the  Cir- 
cumcision in  the  flesh  made  by  hands;  that  at  that  time  ye  were 
without  Christ,  being  aliens  from  the  commonwealth  of  Israel,  and 
strangers  from  the  covenants  of  promise,  having  no  hope,  and  with- 
out God  in  the  world:  but  now  in  Christ  Jesus  ye  who  sometimes 
were  far  oflf  are  made  nigh  by  the  blood  of  Christ.  For  he  is  our 
peace,  who  hath  made  both  one,  and  hath  broken  down  the  middle 
wall  of  partition  between  us ;  having  abolished  in  his  flesh  the  enmity, 
even  the  law  of  commandments  contained  in  ordinances ;  for  to  make 
in  himself  of  twain  one  new  man,  so  making  peace;  and  that  he 
might  reconcile  both  unto  God  in  one  body  by  the  cross,  having 
slain  the  enmity  thereby:  and  came  and  preached  peace  to  you  which 
were  afar  off,  and  to  them  that  were  nigh.  For  through  him"  we  both 
have  access  by  one  Spirit  unto  the  Father.  Now  therefore  ye  are  no 
more  strangers  and  foreigners,  but  fellow-citizens  with  the  saints,  and 
of  the  household  of  God ;  and  are  built  upon  the  foundation  of  the 
apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ  himself  being  the  chief  corner- 
stone; in  whom  all  the  building  fitly  framed  together  groweth  unto  an 
holy  temple  in  the  Lord :  in  whom  ye  also  are  builded  together  for  an 
habitation  of  God  through  the  Spirit. — Ephesians  ii.  11-22. 

The  apostle  has  already  brought  to  the  notice  of  his 
readers  the  character  of  God  and  the  fullness  of  his 
grace,  and  now,  to  enhance  this  fullness  still  more,  by 
way  of  contrast  he  reminds  them  of  what  tliey  were 
(ver.  11). 

First.  Ye  were  Gentiles — that  is,  ye  belonged  to  the 
idolatrous  world,  which  was  entirely  ignorant  of  the 
true  God.  "  Jews  "  and  "  Gentiles  "  are,  therefore, 
everywhere  used  to  designate  the  human  race — those 

149 


150  GEAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

who  worship  the  living  God  and  those  who  worship 
idols  (Matt.  iv.  15;  x.  5;  Mark  x.  33;  Acts  iv.  27; 
E,om.  ii.  14).  In  the  Old  Testament  the  Jews,  the 
people  and  all  the  rest  of  mankind,  are  goim  or  eth- 
ricks  (Isa.  xlii.  6 ;  Dent.  xxvi.  18,  19;  xxxii.  43).  Such 
eases  as  Acts  x.  22 ;  xxvi.  4  are  exceptional,  and  only 
confirm  the  general  rule.  In  Acts  xxvi.  17  the  writer 
returns  to  the  natural  and  common  distinction  of  the 
people  and  the  Gentiles.  Thus,  in  our  Epistle,  Paul, 
the  Jew,  is  a  prisoner  for  you  Gentiles  (iii.  1) ;  the 
Gentiles  are  made  fellow-heirs  with  the  Jewish  Church 
(iii.  6)  ;  the  Ephesian  converts  are  not  to  walk,  as 
other  Gentiles,  in  the  vanity  of  their  minds  (iv.  17). 
Thus  this  radical  distinction  is  kept  up  through  the 
entire  Scripture,  and  is  intended,  no  doubt,  to  typify 
the  sheep  and  the  goats,  the  wheat  and  the  tares,  the 
children  of  God  and  the  children  of  the  wicked  one. 
Ye  were  Gentiles,  idolaters,  degraded  and  sunk  in 
superstition,  with  all  manner  of  defilement,  when  grace 
found  you  out  and  directed  you  to  the  holy  and  mer- 
ciful God.  Ye  were  under  the  curse,  but  ye  are  now 
partakers  of  the  blessing ;  ye  were  dead,  but  are  now 
alive ;  ye  belonged  to  the  prince  of  darkness,  but  now 
ye  are  members  of  Christ  and  heirs  of  the  kingdom 
of  God. 

Second.  Ye  were  in  the  flesh.  What  does  that  mean? 
It  means  natural  generation  or  descent.  Ye  were  shut 
out  by  your  very  birth  from  the  blessings  of  the  Jewish 
covenant ;  or  the  contrast  may  be,  "  Ye  were  Gentiles 
in  the  flesh,  but  ye  are  now  Gentiles  in  the  spirit,"  To 
be  in  the  flesh,  to  walk  after  the  flesh,  to  do  the  will  of 
the  flesh,  are  descriptions  of  the  natural  state  of  man, 
in  which  it  is  impossible  to  please  God  (Rom.  viii.  1-4, 


CHAPTER   II.     VERSES   11-22.  151 

etc. ;  vii.  5,  18,  25  ;  Gal.  v.  13 ;  Col.  ii.  11 ;  2  Pet.  ii. 
10,  18;  1  John  ii.  16).  Hence  the  necessity  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  purify  the  ruined  temple  and  rebuild 
it  in  beauty  and  strength  for  the  service  of  God.  Ye 
are,  therefore,  no  longer  in  the  flesh,  but  in  the  Spirit ; 
old  things  have  passed  away  and  all  things  have 
become  new.  The  world  has  lost  its  beauty,  its  power, 
its  attractiveness.  The  flesh  is  crucified  in  Christ, 
and  the  soul,  like  a  new-created  star,  takes  its  place 
in  the  system  which  moves  around  the  Sun  of  right- 
eousness. 

Third.  The  twofold  circumcision.  The  Jews  con- 
temptuously called  the  Gentiles  "  the  Uncircumcision," 
the  abstract  being  put  for  the  concrete,  as  is  not  unfre- 
quently  done  (Eph.  i.  21).  This  contempt  and  scorn, 
says  the  apostle,  is  false  in  principle;  besides,  it  is 
usually  resorted  to  by  those  who  are  the  circumcision 
made  by  hands — the  mere  nominal  Jews,  who  observe 
a  vain  formalism  and  place  all  their  hopes  on  ritual 
observances.  They  are  not  the  true  circumcision  which 
the  Lord  recognized,  but  a  sect  in  whom  the  circum- 
cision of  the  heart  made  without  hands  has  no  place. 
They,  like  many  in  all  ages,  retain  the  shell  and  reject 
the  kernel,  substituting  law  for  life  and  glorying  in  dis- 
tinctions which  prove  their  own  apostasy  and  shame. 
They  are  not  the  true  circumcision  at  all,  but  the 
concision,  and  have  no  real  pretensions  to  the  Israel 
of  God  (Phil.  iii.  2).  This  is  the  constant  tendency 
of  the  human  mind,  and  it  proves — if  other  proofs 
were  wanting — how  deeply  we  have  fallen  from  God. 
Judaism,  according  to  the  intention  of  the  Founder, 
was  a  noble  structure,  a  luminous  dome,  through  which 
at   many  points  heavenly  light  broke  forth  upon  the 


152  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

people ;  but  in  the  hands  of  sectaries  and  rabbis  it 
became  the  Procrustes-bed  on  wliich  tiie  faith  and  the 
hope  of  the  nation  were  offered  up.  The  papacy  is  at 
the  present  time  httle  better.  The  homage  of  the  heart 
is  inconsistent  with  an  imperative  system  of  ritualism. 

Fourth.  Ye  were  without  Christ.  This  twelfth  verse 
shows  us  fully,  according  to  the  apostle,  the  state  of 
the  heathen  in  the  sight  of  God.  They  have  no  fellow- 
ship with  the  Mediator,  and  no  knowledge  of  the  hopes 
and  glories  which  his  name  inspires.  Jesus  Christ  is 
the  only  deliverer  who  can  break  their  chains,  and 
they  know  him  not;  their  bondage  is  grinding  and 
their  superstition  degrading,  and  he  alone  can  break 
their  chains.  This  is  the  statement  of  our  text,  and 
history  confirms  its  truth.  Is  there  among  the  records 
of  time  any  one  nation  which  by  culture  has  from  the 
native  powers  of  man  attained  to  the  knowledge  of  one 
living  God  and  to  the  dignity  of  intelligent  worshipers 
without  revelation  ?  No  !  There  may  be  found  in  hea- 
then nations  civilization  and  science  and  patriotism, 
and  many  of  both  the  sterner  and  the  more  refined 
virtues  which  adorn  humanity,  but  without  Christ 
there  is  no  divine  knowledge,  no  pure  worship,  no 
certain  hopes  of  immortality.  Greece,  Rome,  India, 
with  their  various  systems  of  pantheism,  demon-worship 
and  polytheism,  clearly  show  the  bent  of  the  human 
mind.  Yet  being  without  Christ  is  not  the  worst  con- 
ceivable condition  of  man :  there  remains  the  still 
more  fearful  enormity  of  rejecting  him ;  and  this 
latter  seems  to  be  the  predicted  evil  which  is  to  draw 
down  the  judgments  of  the  second  advent  (2  Thess.  ii. 
l-lo  ;  Jude  16).  It  is  fearful  to  think  of  those  who 
are  without   Christ,  and    who,  having   the   means  of 


CHAPTER  II.    VERSES  11-22.  153 

knowing  him,  prefer  voluntary  ignorance  to  the  life 
and  hope  which  he  brings ;  more  fearful  still  to  see 
individuals  and  nations  voluntarily  throwing  off  the 
gospel  yoke  and  with  murderous  hostility  to  the  doc- 
trines of  grace  rushing  into  either  the  extravagance 
of  superstition  or  the  hopelessness  of  unbelief. 

Fifth.  Ye  were  aliens  from  the  commonwealth  of 
Israel.  Politeia — "  polity,"  "  citizenshiiD,"  "  common- 
wealth " — carries  the  mind  at  once  to  the  idea  of  a 
city  and  society  and  social  duties  (Phil.  iii.  20  ;  Acts 
xxii.  28;  Eph.  ii.  12).  There  arose  in  the  midst  of 
the  Jewish  economy  the  idea  of  a  city  as  the  j^roper 
home  and  resting-place  for  the  soul.  No  longer  wan- 
dering like  Abraham,  or  in  bondage  like  his  descend- 
ants in  Egypt,  or  passing  through  the  wilderness  in 
tents,  but  settled  in  their  own  land,  free  from  the  yoke 
of  bondage  and  rejoicing  in  the  Holy  City,  where  God, 
their  Lawgiver  and  King,  dwelt, — it  was  natural  that 
Jerusalem  should  occupy  a  prominent  place  in  the 
feelings  and  the  sympathies  of  the  nation.  Besides, 
grace  is  essentially  diffusive  and  man  is  essentially 
social ;  and  hence,  to  suit  the  characteristics  of  both, 
the  promises  often  take  the  form  of  a  city  of  habita- 
tion or  a  kingdom  of  rest  and  peace.  Abraham  looked 
for  a  city  (Heb.  xi.  10),  and  we  look  for  our  citizen- 
ship at  the  coming  of  the  Lord  (Phil.  iii.  20),  when, 
along  with  the  glorious  companies  of  the  redeemed, 
we  shall  come  to  Mount  Zion,  the  city  of  the  living 
God,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  and  to  an  innumerable 
company  of  angels,  to  the  general  assembly  and  church 
of  the  first-born  which  are  written  in  heaven  (Heb. 
xii.  22,  23).  And  finally,  when  the  storms  of  this 
sinful  world  are  over,  the  Holy  City,  the  New  Jerusa- 

20 


154  GEAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

lem,  descends  from  heaven  prepared  as  a  bride  adorned 
for  her  husband,  and  the  long-promised  kingdom  of 
glory  begins.  These  are  bright  hopes  and  gracious 
promises,  and  they  seem  very  naturally  to  assume  the 
form  of  a  city.  There,  God  is  the  King;  Jesus  the 
Redeemer  is  before  the  throne;  the  Holy  Spirit  fills 
every  heart  with  joy  ;  the  citizens  are  all  the  redeemed ; 
and  holy  communion  with  God  and  with  one  another 
transfuses  ecstasy  through  all  hearts. 

Is  not  such  a  heaven  worth  seeking,  worth  longing 
for,  living  for — dying  for  if  need  be?  This  is  the 
birthright  of  the  sons  of  God.  This  is  the  citizenship 
which  dates  from  Calvary  and  is  sealed  with  blood. 
This  is  the  commonwealth  from  which  the  Ephesians 
in  their  state  of  nature  were  shut  out,  and  from  which 
all  unbelievers  are,  and  ever  must  be,  shut  out.  Lord, 
I  believe !   help  thou  mine  unbelief. 

Sixth.  Strangers  to  the  covenant  of  promise.  We 
may  observe  here  that  God,  from  the  beginning,  has 
been  manifesting  himself  in  the  way  and  form  of  a 
covenant,  which  does  not  mean  a  bargain  entered  into 
between  God  and  his  creatures,  but  a  statement  of  the 
divine  method  of  procedure  and  a  promise  of  accept- 
ance or  obedience  on  the  part  of  the  people.  We 
mention  some  of  the  most  remarkable  of  these  cov- 
enant transactions. 

(1)  God  established  his  covenant  with  Abraham 
and  the  patriarchs,  in  which  he  took  them  into  rela- 
tions of  friendship  and  peace  with  himself,  promising 
to  be  their  God  and  Defender  and  claiming  from  them 
a  hearty  obedience.  The  outward  sign  of  the  cove- 
nant was  circumcision,  and  hence  it  is  called  "  the  cov- 
enant of  circumcision"    (Acts  vii.  8).      This  was  the 


CHAPTEK   II.     VERSES   11-22.  155 

germ  of  the  whole  Jewish  economy,  and  from  it  the 
civil  and  religious  polity  of  the  nation  took  its  form 
and  development  (Gen.  xv.  1-18 ;  xvii.  1-19 ;  Luke  i. 
72,  73;  Acts  iii.  25;  Gal.  iii.  17).  The  Abrahamic 
covenant  was  renewed  to  Moses  when  the  people  had 
arrived  at  Mount  Sinai,  and,  being  emancipated  from 
slavery,  were  capable  of  receiving  and  enjoying  a  free 
legal  constitution.  This  solemn  tiansaction  between 
God  and  the  Hebrew  nation,  in  the  midst  of  awful 
manifestations  of  divine  power,  took  the  form  of  a 
comprehensive  law,  to  which  the  people  vowed  per- 
petual obedience  (Ex.  xix.  8).  Hence  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments are  called  "the  words  of  the  covenant" 
by  way  of  eminence,  as  being  the  most  essential  part 
of  it,  and  of  the  whole  law ;  the  tables  on  which  they 
were  written  are  the  "tables  of  the  covenant"  (Deut. 
ix.  9) ;  the  whole  law  is  called  "  the  book  of  the  cov- 
enant" (Ex.  xxiv.  7);  Moses  is  the  mediator  of  it  (Gal. 
iii.  19).  The  Sabbath  was  the  special  sign  of  this  na- 
tional covenant  (Ex.  xxxi.  12-18),  and  all  the  hopes 
and  fears,  the  promises  and  threatenings,  which  form- 
ed the  character  of  the  nation  flow  naturally  from  it. 
This  was  the  old  covenant,  the  dispensation  of  law,  in 
which  the  veiled  Israelite  beheld  the  veiled  Moses,  and 
is  contrasted  with  the  new  covenant,  in  which  we  all, 
with  unveiled  face  beholding  in  the  unveiled  face  of 
Christ,  as  in  a  mirror,  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  are 
changed  into  the  same  image,  from  glory  to  glory,  as 
by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  (2  Cor.  iii.  14-18).  The 
old  covenant  was  national,  federative  and  legal ;  the 
new  is  individual,  personal  and  gracious.  The  con- 
dition of  the  former  was  obedience;  the  condition  of 
the  latter  is  faith.     Do  and  live  was  the  law  of  Moses ; 


156  GRAHAM  ON  EPHESIANS. 

Believe  and  live  is  the  gospel  of  Christ.  These  various 
dispensations  are  called  covenants  of  promise  because 
of  the  promises  contained  in  them.  The  heathen  of 
Ephesus  were  strangers  to  these  promises.  They  knew 
not  how  the  bow  in  the  cloud  protects  the  earth  from 
a  deluge  for  ever  (Gen.  ix.  13),  nor  how  the  sacrifices 
of  the  nations,  Jews  and  Gentiles,  pointed  to  the  great 
Sufferer  for  the  expiation  of  sin.  They  were  shut  out 
from  the  immortal  hopes  of  the  gospel,  and  the  prom- 
ises of  grace  and  forgiveness,  like  stars  in  the  night, 
shone  not  upon  them. 

(2)  The  Hebrew  word  for  covenant  signifies  "  cutting," 
and  conveys  an  allusion  to  the  manner  of  making  oaths 
and  covenants  in  ancient  times.  This  was  done  by  the 
contracting  parties  meeting,  sacrificing  an  animal,  cut- 
ting it  into  two  parts,  passing  between  them,  sprinkling 
the  blood  upon  themselves  and  imprecating  similar  de- 
struction on  the  breaker  of  the  covenant  (Gen.  xv.  9 ; 
Jer.  xxxiv.  18,  19).  This  practice  gave  rise  to  the  ex- 
pression, so  often  found  in  Scripture  and  elsewhere,  "  to 
cut  the  covenant,"  which  means  to  contract  or  confirm 
the  covenant.  The  Greeks  use  the  same  form,  and  the 
Latin  foedus,  "  covenant,"  is  derived  from  a  term  ex- 
pressive of  the  filth  and  pollution  of  the  bloody  victims. 
When  the  contracting  parties  passed  between  the  pieces 
of  the  victim  they  said,  "Lei  it  not  be  so  done  to  we." 
The  same  custom  is  alluded  to  in  the  Hebrew  word  for 
"  to  swear,"  which  is  derived  from  the  number  seven, 
because  seven  lambs  were  to  be  sacrificed  on  the  mak- 
ing of  solemn  covenants  (Gen.  xxi.  28).  The  aucient 
Arabs  confirmed  their  covenants  and  oaths,  not  by  cut- 
ting up  sacrificial  victims,  but  by  cutting  their  own  flesh 
and  using  imprecations  over  human  blood  (Herod.,  iii. 


CHAPTER    II.    VERSES  11-22.  157 

8).  The  same  custom  of  confirming  oaths  and  cove- 
nants by  shedding  blood  prevailed  among  almost  all 
nations — among  the  Chaldeans  (Ephrem.  Syr.  on  Gen. 
XV.  19)  ;  among  the  Greeks  (Plut.,  Qucest.  c.  Ill)  ; 
among  the  Armenians  (Tacit.,  Annal,  12,  47) ;  among 
the  Lydians  (Herod.,  i.  74)  ;  among  the  Scythians 
(Herod.,  iv.  70).  These  customs  took  their  rise,  no 
doubt,  from  the  universal  prevalence  of  sacrifice,  and 
point  darkly  but  prophetically  to  the  covenant  God  of 
the  Bible  and  the  atoning  Sacrifice  of  Calvary.  They 
all  say  to  the  ear  of  reason  and  of  faith,  "  Behold  the 
Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world." 
How  awful  is  this  truth  !  All  covenants  pointed  to  this 
one ;  all  dying  victims,  to  the  cross  of  Christ ;  all 
agreements,  to  the  reconciliation  between  God  and 
man ;  all  shedding  of  blood,  to  the  great  atonement 
for  the  sin  of  the  world   (Heb.  ix.  22). 

Seventh.  They  had  no  hope — "  not  having  hope,"  as 
the  Greek  reads.  This  is  the  state  of  those  who  know 
not  God.  They  behold  not  the  objects  of  hope ;  they 
are  not  brightened  by  the  radiance  of  the  promises. 
How,  then,  could  they  be  filled  with  the  anticipations 
of  hope  ?  Hope  dawns  in  the  soul  and  expands  more 
and  more  with  the  entrance  and  increase  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  God  (John  xvii.  3).  It  is  closely  connected 
with  the  sister-graces  faith  and  charity  (1  Cor.  xiii.  13) 
and  completes  the  circle  in  which  the  believing  soul 
moves.  Faith  grasps  the  cross  and  rests  upon  it  as 
upon  a  rock.  Hope,  beaming,  radiant  hope,  anticipates 
the  crown.  Love,  the  life  of  our  hearts,  the  atmosphere 
of  our  lungs,  fills  up  the  space  between  these  extremes 
and  unites  us  with  Him  whose  name  and  whose  nature 
are  love.     We  are  no  longer  without  hope ;  our  God  is 


158  GEAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

the  God  of  hope  (Jer.  xiv.  8)  ;  the  hojDe  of  righteous- 
ness nerves  our  hands  to  fight  the  good  fight  of  faith 
(Gal.  V.  5)  ;  the  hope  of  glory  beams  down  upon  us 
from  the  heavenly  throne,  saying,  "  Be  thou  faithful 
unto  death,  and  I  will  give  thee  a  crown  of  life."  We 
live  rejoicing  in  hope  (Rom.  xii.  12)  ;  over  the  sleeping 
saints  we  sorrow  not  as  those  who  have  no  hope  (1 
Thess.  iv.  13) ;  and,  like  the  illustrious  Howard,  we 
feel  that  the  best  motto  for  our  tombs  is  "Christus 
mea  spes'^  ("Christ  is  my  hope"). 

Oh,  sweet,  mild,  gentle  visitant!  May  thy  heavenly 
light  burn  brighter  and  brighter  till  the  morning  star 
of  hope  blends  into  the  radiance  of  the  Sun  of  right- 
eousness !  Be  ever  present  in  our  trials  like  the  rain- 
bow in  the  storm,  and  in  the  last  struggles  of  our  mortal 
life  gild  the  unknown  wastes  of  eternity  with  thy  tran- 
quillizing beams. 

Eighth.  They  were  without  God  i?i  the  world.  They 
were  atheists — not  deniers  and  rejecters  of  God,  but 
living  without  any  real  knowledge  of  him.  l^aul  here 
refutes  and  casts  back  upon  the  heathen  their  own 
accusation  against  the  Christians.  They  called  the 
first  Christians  atheists  because  they  rejected  polythe- 
ism and  confined  their  worship  to  the  one  immortal 
and  self-existent  Creator  (Justin  Mar.,  Apol.  ii.  b^); 
hence  the  whole  force  and  vehemence  of  the  popular 
rage  fell  upon  the  martyrs  and  confessors  of  the  faith 
as  scandalous  and  sacrilegious  despisers  of  the  estab- 
lished religion  and  the  national  gods.  The  Christians 
called  the  heathen  atheists  because  they  did  not  wor- 
ship the  one  living  and  true  God,  but  many  imaginary 
and  false  ones  who  by  nature  were  no  gods  (Gal.  iv.  8), 
and  changed  the  glory  of  the  incorruptible  God  into 


CHAPTER  II.    VERSES   11-22.  159 

images  (Rom.  i.  23),  as  the  papists  do  at  present,  chang- 
ing the  truth  of  God  into  a  lie  and  serving  the 
creature  more  than  (or  along  with)  the  Creator,  who 
is  blessed  for  ever  (Rom.  i.  25 ;  Isa.  xliv.  20 ;  Jer. 
iii.  23;  xiii.  25 ;  xvi.  19).  They  were  carried  away 
unto  dumb  idols  (1  Cor.  xii.  2),  and  only  at  their  con- 
version did  they  begin  to  serve  the  living  and  true 
God  and  to  wait  for  his  Son  from  heaven  (1  Thess.  i. 
9).  From  these  statements  it  follows  that,  in  the  Chris- 
tian sense,  they  are  atheists  who,  like  the  Samaritans,  join 
idols  with  the  true  God  in  their  worship,  for  the  whole 
force  of  the  reasoning  in  Rom.  i.  20-30  is  based  on 
the  fact  that  the  character  of  the  true  God  is  known, 
or  at  least  knowable,  from  his  works ;  but  yet,  not- 
withstanding this,  the  heathen  world  worshiped  the 
creature  moi'e  than  the  Creator.  If  this  constitutes 
atheism,  it  will  not  be  easy  to  defend  the  Mariolatry  of 
the  Church  of  Rome  from  the  heavy  accusation.  The 
words  in  the  world  are  emphatic,  and  seem  to  say, 
Without  God  in  the  midst  of  God's  world ;  the  Work- 
er not  recognized  in  the  midst  of  his  works ;  the  Cre- 
ator and  the  creature  confounded  in  their  minds,  and 
the  glory  of  the  incorruptible  God  turned  into  a  lying 
vanity. 

Ninth.  But  ye  are  made  nigh.  This  is  the  turning- 
point  of  the  sentence,  and  now  we  are  to  contemplate 
what  they  are.  They  are  no  longer  Gentiles  in  the 
flesh,  but  Jews  in  the  spirit ;  they  are  the  real  true  cir- 
cumcision not  made  with  hands — the  circumcision  of  the 
heart  and  spirit  which  God  recognizes  and  of  which 
he  approves;  they  have  Christ,  and  realize  the  strong 
words  of  Luther,  "  Wer  Christum  hat,  der  hat  alles^' 
("He  that  has  Christ  has  everything").     All  things 


160  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

are  his.  They  are  partakers  of  the  commonwealth  of 
the  Israel  of  God ;  they  share  the  blessings  of  the  cov- 
enants of  promise;  they  rejoice  in  hope,  and  their  life 
is  a  walk  of  fellowship  with  God.  So  much  may  we 
gather  from  the  text  by  way  of  contrast.  But  the 
apostle  assures  us  they  are  no  longer  far  off,  but  made 
nigh  by  the  blood  of  the  cross.     Note  here — 

(1)  Sin  has  made  an  impassable  gulf  between  the 
holy  God  and  the  transgressor.  Law,  justice  and  the 
immutability  of  the  Creator  stand  in  the  way  to  pre- 
vent communion  between  them.  Nay,  the  very  safety 
and  stability  of  the  moral  universe  require  that  the 
character  of  the  Sin-Forgiver  should  not  degenerate 
into  that  of  the  sin-indulger,  otherwise  the  very  foun- 
dations would  be  removed,  and  light  and  darkness,  sin 
and  righteousness,  heaven  and  hell,  God  and  Satan,  be 
(as  in  the  heathen  world  they  are)  inextricably  blended 
together.  If  the  stream  of  mercy  flow  at  all,  it  nmst 
flow  from  beneath  the  altar  of  justice ;  if  the  rainbow 
of  grace  is  to  protect  us  from  the  deluge  of  wrath, 
it  must  shine  through  the  storms  of  an  angry  sky. 
Hence,  when  the  angels  sinned,  they  were  cast  out  of 
heaven  (Jude  6) ;  when  Adam  sinned,  God  left  the 
Garden  of  Eden ;  and  when  the  Jews  became  apos- 
tate, their  beautiful  house  was  left  desolate.  Thus 
the  angels  that  fell,  and  the  human  family,  and  the 
Jews  after  the  day  of  Pentecost  (which  they  rejected), 
become /ar  off.  Sin,  therefore,  has  erected  between  us 
and  God  the  barrier  which  Jesus  Christ  the  Mediator 
is  here  represented  as  removing  by  his  death. 

(2)  This  principle  of  separation,  the  idea  of  holi- 
ness and  purity,  was  rigidly  kept  up  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, and  served  as  the  basis  on  which  right  views 


CHAPTER   11.    VERSES  11-22.  161 

of  the  doctrine  of  communion  with  God  should  rest. 
They  were  his  people  and  had  the  liberty  of  access 
to  him ;  the  heathen  were  idolaters  and  outcasts.  The 
Jews  were  near  and  the  Gentiles  were  far  off;  the 
land  was  Emmanuel's  land,  the  nation  his  special  pos- 
session :  his  laws  guided  their  conduct ;  his  temple 
was  in  the  midst  of  them  ;  his  fatherly  voice  resolved 
tlieir  doubts  (Isa.  xxxiii.  22).  They  were  a  people 
near  to  him  (Ps.  cxlviii.  14;  Lev.  x.  3;  Ps.  Ixv.  4), 
and  no  other  people  could  rejoice  in  having  God  so 
near  to  them  (Dent.  iv.  7). 

Thus  we  have  in  the  call  of  Abraham  and  the  sep- 
aration of  a  nation  for  the  special  work  of  God,  with 
whom  God  couUl  dwell,  the  first  rudimental  principles 
of  the  incarnation  by  which  God  and  the  race  are 
for  ever  united.  God  was  with  the  unfollen  Adam, 
was  with  the  Jewish  people,  is  with  the  angels  in 
heaven ;  but  he  is  become  flesh  (John  i.  14)  and  dwells 
in  Christ  as  his  chosen  temple  (2  Cor.  v.  19).  Thus 
the  land,  the  people,  the  temple,  the  sacrifices,  the 
feasts,  directed  the  mind  of  the  Jewish  worshiper  to 
the  glories  of  a  better  dispensation. 

Tenth.  But  how  were  they  made  nigh?  By  the 
Mood  of  Chrid.  The  atonement  is  the  great  fact  of 
the  Bible,  and  Scripture  and  history  alike  bear  wit- 
ness to  it. 

(1)  The  universal  practice  of  sacrifice  points  to  the 
atonement  of  Christ  and  shows  out  the  moral  senti- 
ment of  the  nations  in  the  dark  but  distinct  conscious- 
ness that  expiation  is  necessary  before  the  sinner  can 
approach  God.  Their  terrors,  their  victims,  their  su- 
perstitions, all  23oint  in  the  same  direction,  and  even 
the  dictum  of  Lucretius  the  mocker — that  ^^  fear  mahes 

21 


162  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

the  gods''^    {Timor  facU  deos) — is  based   on   the    con- 
sciousness of  guilt  and  the  necessity  of  mediation. 

(2)  The  whole  Jewish  economy  is  based  upon  the 
principle  of  sacrifice,  and  is  to  be  looked  upon  as  a 
providential  preparation  for  the  gospel  in  which  the 
sacrifice  of  the  cross  holds  such  a  conspicuous  place, 
and  both  Testaments  unite  in  declaring  that  without 
shedding  of  blood  there  is  no  remission  of  sins  (Heb. 
ix.  22 ;  Ex.  xxiv.  8 ;  Matt.  xxvi.  28) .  Hence  the 
spirit  of  the  Old  Testament  is  realized  in  the  New- 
Testament  Victim  offered  up  upon  the  cross  for  the 
sin  of  the  world.  Hence  the  blood  of  Christ  is  pre- 
sented to  our  faith  as  the  vindication  of  Jehovah's  love 
and  the  refuge  in  which  our  souls  may  safely  wait  the 
issues  of  eternity.  If  we  have  access  to  God,  it  is 
through  the  blood  of  the  cross ;  there  is  no  other 
name  given  among  men  by  which  we  can  be  saved 
but  the  name  of  Jesus.  (See  Rom.  iii.  25 ;  v.  9  ;  Eph. 
i.  17;  Cob  i.  14;  Heb.  ix.  12-14;  x.  19  ;  1  Pet.  i.  2-19; 
1  John  i.  7;  Rev.  i.  5.)  In  this  great  doctrine  of  atone- 
ment, which  is  the  very  same  as  the  eternal  mercy  of 
God,  the  Jew  and  the  Gentile  are  equally  interested, 
and  through  it  have  an  equal  right,  being  penitent,  to 
draw  near  to  the  presence  of  God.  Blessed  truth ! 
Let  us  come !  Let  us  all  come !  Why  stay  afar  off, 
when  the  way  is  open  and  the  King  invites?  Draw 
near  to  God !  The  cross  is  the  way,  the  Crucified  is 
the  Mediator,  the  salvation  of  our  souls  is  the  end. 
Then  come,  brother,  for  the  time  is  short,  and  tempta- 
tions are  strong,  and  the  force  of  habit  increases  daily, 
and  the  command  of  God  is,  *'  To-day,  if  ye  will  hear 
his  voice ;"  "Noiv  is  the  accepted  time,  now  is  the  day 
of  salvation." 


CHAPTER    II.     VERSES   11-22.  163 

Eleventh.  He  is  our  peace  (ver.  14).  Peace  is  here 
put  for  "  peace-maker,"  and  presents  Jesus  to  our  minds 
and  hearts  as  the  Prince  of  peace — the  Sar-shalom  of 
Isa,  ix.  We  were  enemies  of  God  by  wicked  works, 
but  be  has  reconciled  us ;  we,  Jews  and  Gentiles,  hated 
one  another  with  moral  antipathy,  but  he  has  made  us 
one  body,  one  temj^le  of  God  in  the  Spirit  (Eph.  iii.  6)  ; 
our  conscience  was  disquieted,  and  he  has  given  us 
peace  with  God.  Thus  we  owe  to  him  a  threefold 
peace — peace  within,  peace  wdth  our  brethren  of  man- 
kind and  i3eace  with  heaven.  He  is  our  peace.  His 
name  is  the  Prince  of  peace ;  his  birth  is  the  song  of 
peace ;  his  gospel  is  the  kingdom  of  peace ;  in  his  life 
on  earth  he  came  and  j)i'eached  peace ;  his  death  on 
the  cross  was  the  seal  of  peace ;  and  the  last  blessing 
he  bequeathed  from  Mount  Olivet  was  the  blessing  of 
peace.  Now  the  veil  of  the  temple  is  rent  and  tlie 
middle  wall  of  partition  taken  down ;  no  nation,  as 
such,  has  any  special  claim  to  be  the  people  of  God, 
and  no  impediment  stands  in  the  way  of  the  sinner's 
approach  to  God.  This  is  the  value  of  the  cross, 
this  is  its  inestimable  worth  in  the  sight  of  God — 
that  the  greatest,  vilest  sinner  on  earth  is  as  free  to 
approach  God  through  the  blood  of  Christ  as  are  the 
anfallen  angels  before  the  throne.  The  unfallen 
draw  near  without  a  mediator,  the  sinner  approaches 
in  the  way  of  mediation,  and  both  are  accepted  by 
God.  If  the  sinner  is  condemned,  he  is  self-con- 
demned ;  no  barrier  save  unbelief  stands  between 
him  and  God,  and  every  hour  he  remains  unbelieving 
only  adds  to  his  guilt.  My  brother,  this  is  indeed 
a  serious  matter.  Is  Jesus  Christ  your  peace?  Can 
you    enter  eternity  wdth  the  sure  conviction,    "  He  is 


164  GKAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

my  peace  ;"  I  see  in  God  my  Fiither,  and  in  heaven 
my  home? 

Twelfth.  The  same  subject  is  continued  in  verses  15, 
16  and  17,  but  it  assumes  a  somewhat  different  form, 
which  may  conveniently  be  called  The  one  new  man 
in  Christ  Jesus.  Let  us  ask,  then,  first,  What  is  the 
enmity  which  he  has  abolished?  As  peace  is  taken 
for  the  cause  of  peace,  so  here  enmity  is  put  for  the 
cause  or  occasion  of  enmity,  and  this,  the  a])ostle  says, 
was  the  law  of  commandments  contained  in  ordinances. 
These  ordinances  are  called  dogmas  because  they  were 
2wsiti've  prescriptions,  not  founded  on  necessity  or 
the  nature  of  things,  but  on  the  will  of  the  author, 
and  consequently  liable  to  be  changed  at  his  pleasure. 
Hence  the  edicts  of  princes  are  dogmas  (Luke  ii.  1 ; 
Acts  xvii.  7)  ;  the  decrees  of  the  apostles  concerning 
the  eating  of  blood  and  things  strangled  are  called 
dogmas  (Acts  xvi.  4)  ;  and  submitting  to  the  yoke 
of  arbitrary  human  ordinances  is  called  dogmatizing 
(Col.  ii.  20).  These  are  the  carnal  ordinances  imposed 
upon  the  Jews  till  the  time  of  reformation  (Heb.  ix. 
10),  and  these  form  the  cause  of  the  implacable  enmity 
between  them  and  the  Gentile  world.  The  Persians 
considered  the  Jews  as  a  strange  nice  whose  laws  were 
diverse  from  those  of  all  other  peojile,  and  neither 
did  they  keep  the  king's  laws  (Esth.  iii.  8).  What  the 
Romans  thought  of  them  we  may  learn  from  Tacitus, 
Hist.  V.  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  of  which  the  following  is  a 
brief  synopsis  : 

"The  origin  of  the  Jewish  nation  is  unknown. 
Some  think  them  originally  Cretans,  and  name  them 
Idseans  or  Jud?eans  from  Mount  Ida ;  others  make 
them  a  colony  of  Egyptians,  led  out  by  Hierosolymus 


CHAPTER   II.    VERSES   11-22.  165 

and  Jiula;  some  deem  them  Assyrians,  and  others 
derive  them  from  the  ancient  Solymans  of  Homer, 
and  thus  account  for  the  name  of  their  chief  city, 
Hierosolyma  or  Jerusalem.  One  thing,  however,  is 
certain — that  the  gods  plagued  the  miserable  race  with 
all  kinds  of  loathsome  diseases  until  they  were  finally 
banished  out  of  Egypt,  when  Moses,  in  their  despair, 
encouraged  the  sinking  multitude,  and  after  seven 
days'  journey  they  took  possession  of  the  country 
where  they  built  their  city.  Moses  gave  them  laws 
contrary  to  all  mortals ;  so  that  whatever  the  Romans 
held  sacred  they  held  profane.  They  worship  the  ass 
in  their  temple ;  they  despise  Jupiter  Amnion ;  they 
rest  the  seventh  day,  and  every  seventh  year  is  devoted 
to  sluggish  inactivity ;  their  rites  are  vile  and  abom- 
inable, and  their  very  depravity  is  made  a  source  of 
glory  and  emolument ;  so  that  the  scum  and  refuse 
of  the  nations  flock  to  Jerusalem  and  enrich  the  state 
with  gifts  and  offerings.  The  Jews  are  obstinate, 
inflexible  and  uncharitable ;  they  circumcise  their 
children,  despise  the  gods,  have  no  intercourse  with 
strangers,  are  lascivious  and  j^rofligate  among  them- 
selves, never  kill  their  children,  despise  death,  believe 
in  a  future  state,  and,  neglecting  the  worship  of  the 
nations,  acknowledge  one  God  only,  whom  they  con- 
template with  the  mind's  eye  as  the  great  governing 
Mind  that  directs  and  guides  the  whole  frame  of  nature, 
eternal,  infinite  and  neither  capable  of  change  nor 
subject  to  decay."  Such  is  the  testimony  of  Tacitus. 
The  Jews,  on  their  jDart,  contemplated  the  Gentiles  as 
outcasts  and  idolaters,  with  whom  they  were  to  have 
no  intercourse  (Acts  x.  28).  There  was,  indeed,  a 
fierce  mortal  enmity   between  them,  and  Jesus  removed 


166  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

the  cause  of  this  by  abolishing  the  exclusive  and  tem- 
porary ordinances  of  the  Jews.  He  was  to  make  an 
end  of  sin  and  sacrificial  offerings  (Dan.  ix.  24)  ;  hence 
his  death  ended  the  shadowy  ritual  and  brought  in 
the  dispensation  of  liberty  and  life. 

But  how  has  he  abolished  the  enmity  ?  Answer : 
In  his  flesh.  In  here,  and  in  many  other  places,  has, 
in  both  Greek  and  English,  the  same  signification  as 
through  (Col.  i.  16  ;  Matt.  vi.  7 ;  1  Cor.  xv.  18 ;  Rom. 
iii.  25;  2- Tim.  ii.  9).  The  meaning  is  clearly  this: 
By  means  of  the  flesh,  through  the  assumption  of 
human  nature,  he  has  slain  the  enmity  and  reconciled 
the  Jew  and  the  Gentile  in  one  body,  the  Church, 
which  is  the  habitation  of  God  in  the  Spirit.  Some 
refer  the  words  in  his  flesh  to  the  incarnation  (1  John 
iv.  2,  3 ;  Rom.  ix.  5 ;  i.  3)  ;  others,  to  the  crucifixion 
(Col.  i.  22;  1  Pet.  iii.  18).  Nor  is  there  anything 
to  hinder  either  application ;  indeed,  the  latter  seems 
to  have  been  in  the  mind  of  the  apostle  (ver.  16),  but 
in  itself  the  word  flesh,  or  in  the  flesh,  denotes  simply 
his  humanity.  The  doctrine  then  is  this :  The  Lord 
Jesus,  the  Son  of  God,  has  abolished  the  enmity 
between  Jew  and  Gentile  by  removing  its  cause,  which 
is  the  Jewish  ritual;  and  this  he  has  done  through 
the  human  nature  which  he  assumed,  in  which  we 
see  the  perfect  holiness  which  the  law  ecjmmanded,  the 
vindication  of  violated  justice  to  which  all  the  offer- 
ings pointed,  and  the  resurrection  of  the  body  and 
eternal  life  which  formed  the  hope  of  mankind  from 
the  beginning  of  the  world.  We  see  here,  as  every- 
where in  Scripture,  the  value  of  the  human  nature  of 
Christ  in  the  system  of  faith.  It  is  in  him  what  God, 
intended  it  to  be;    the  plan  and   purpose  of  God  is 


CHAPTER   II.     VERSE8   11-22.  167 

realized  and  completed  in  him ;  and  human  nature, 
hueh  as  we  have  it,  such  as  it  is  found  among  the 
nations,  with  all  its  wants  and  weaknesses  and  affections 
(sin  only  excepted,  Heb.  iv.  lo ;  vii.  26),  has  been  made 
the  instrument  of  revealing  Jehovah's  love  to  us  ami 
lifting  us  up  into  fellowship  with  himself.  Oh,  won- 
drous act  of  love  and  grace !  Who  shall  measure  hi.>- 
descent?  Who  shall  conceive  the  height  of  oui 
elevation  ?  The  Son  of  God  is  in  our  flesh — is  invested 
with  our  humanity  that  we  might  for  ever  be  with 
Christ  in  God  (Col.  iii.  3).  Was  there  ever  such  a 
change?  Oh,  never,  never,  never!  No  love.  Lord 
Jesus,  like  thine !  no  name,  no  peace,  no  glory,  no 
grace,  like  thine !  May  light  please  the  eye  and 
music  the  ear  and  friendship  the  heart  no  more 
the  day  I  cease  to  prize  thee  above  all  earthly  things ! 
Observe  the  end  of  this  abolishing  of  the  enmity — 
viz.,  that  he  might  create  the  two  into  one  new  man  in 
himself,  so  making  peace.  The  two  mentioned  here  are 
the  Jews  and  the  Gentiles ;  they  are  united  in  him,  in 
his  person,  through  his  means,  under  him  as  the  uni- 
versal Head,  and  formed  into  a  new  man — one  living 
vine,  one  spiritual  house,  one  glorious  temple — for  the 
praise  and  worship  of  almighty  God.  A  7ieiv  Man — 
the  Head,  the  Redeemer,  the  God-Man,  a  new  thing 
in  the  earth.  The  members  are  renewed  by  the  Holy 
Ghost ;  there  is  a  new  heart,  a  new  name,  a  new  nature  ; 
new  hopes  fill  them,  new  powers  sustain  them.  Their 
city  is  the  New  Jerusalem ;  they  exj^ect  a  new  earth 
under  them,  a  new  heaven  above  them,  a  new  and  im- 
mortal life  within  them.  All  things  are  become  new. 
Both  are  reconciled  to  God  in  one  body  by  the  cross, 
and  the  door  of  divine  mercy  is  oj)ened  to  the  whole 


168  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

human  race.  This  is  the  subst  nee  also  of  the  seven- 
teenth verse  :  not  personally,  indeed,  but  by  the  apostles, 
he  preached  peace  to  them  that  were  far  off  and  them 
that  were  nigh.  Moses  is  now  unveiled,  and  a  greater 
than  Moses  unfolds  to  all  men  the  mild  lineaments  of 
universal  love. 

Thirteenth.  We  come  now  to  the  eighteenth  verse, 
which  tells  of  our  access  to  God  and  contains  a  short 
notice  of  the  Holy  Trinity  and  the  relations  of  the 
divine  Persons  to  the  worshipers.  The  following  are 
the  chief  points  for  the  expusitor : 

(1)  We  both  have  access  to  the  Father.  The  Father 
is  the  Person  to  whom  we  come  as  the  projDer  rest  and 
liome  of  the  prodigal.  He  is  the  great  King  to  whose 
presence  we  are  introduced,  and  his  position  is  upon  the 
throne.  The  conversion  of  the  soul  by  grace,  the  ordi- 
nances of  the  gosi^el  in  general  and  the  various  opera- 
tions of  the  Son  and  Spirit  are  all  intended  to  bring  us 
to  him.  He  is  called  Father  in  reference  to  Jesus  Christ 
because  of  the  relation  which  subsisted,  before  the  world 
was,  between  the  Father  and  the  Son ;  or,  as  Athanasius 
expresses  it,  "  The  Son  is  of  the  Father,  without  begin- 
ning and  eternally  begotten."  This  relation  of  Father 
and  Son  in  the  Godhead  is  the  glory  of  our  family  sys- 
tem on  earth  and  gives  force  and  significancy  to  a  mul- 
titude of  Scripture  passages.  First.  The  absolute  way 
in  which  he  is  called  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  precludes  the  possibility  of  a  mere  figurative  son- 
ship,  and  hence  he  is  called  God  the  Father  (1  Cor. 
viii.  6).  It  is  said  emphatically  that  the  Father  loveth 
the  Son  (John  iii.  35) ;  no  man  knoweth  the  Son  but  the 
Father.  These  and  all  similar  expressions  seem  utterly 
inconsistent  with  an  unreal  figurative  sonship.     Second. 


CHAPTER  II.    VERSES  11-22.  169 

The  phrase  Son  of  God  in  the  New  Testament  denotes 
deity.  This  necessarily  follows,  indeed,  from  the  nature 
of  the  case,  if  the  sonship  be  a  reality,  for  sonship  is 
based  on  a  community  of  nature  between  the  Father 
and  the  Son.  Adam  begat  a  son  in  his  image ;  the 
father  was  limited,  mortal,  sinful,  had  a  beginning,  and 
Cain  was  like  his  father  in  all  these  respects  ;  but,  had 
the  son  been  boundless,  immortal,  holy  and  eternal,  he 
would  not  have  been  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  his 
father.  Even  so,  if  God,  who  is  without  a  beginning, 
had  a  son  who  had  a  beginning,  it  would  be  as  unnat- 
ural as  if  Adam,  who  had  a  beginning,  had  a  son  with- 
out a  beginning.  The  son  of  a  boundless,  glorious, 
immortal  and  eternal  being  must,  if  he  resemble  his 
father,  possess  these  attributes.  This  the  Jews  under- 
stood well  and  acted  upon ;  for  they  took  up  stones  to 
stone  him  because  he  made  himself  the  Son  of  God, 
and  he  was  finally  condemned  and  executed  because  he 
confessed  that  he  was  the  Son  of  the  blessed  God  (Matt, 
xxvi.  63 ;  Mark  xiv.  61).  Add  to  this  that  he  is  em- 
phatically called  the  Son,  the  beloved  Son,  the  only 
begotten  Son,  who  alone  knows  and  reveals  the  Father 
(John  i.  14,  18;  iii.  16,  18;  1  John  iv.  9).  He  is  the 
First-Begotten  and  Heir  of  the  creation,  by  whom  the 
universe  was  created  and  is  sustained  (Col.  i.  15, 16, 17). 
He  is  the  Son  before  incarnation  (Ps.  xlv.  6,  7 ;  Heb. 
i.  6).  He  was  not  sent  to  become  a  son,  but  the  only- 
besotten  of  the  Father  was  sent  to  become  a  servant 
(Phil.  ii.  7),  and  the  great  love  of  the  Father  consists 
in  the  giving  up  of  his  well-beloved  Son. 

(2)  Our  access  to  the  Father  is  through  him — that  is, 
the  Mediator.  Through  is  the  proper  word  for  medi- 
ation, and  shows  forth  the  person  and  the  work  of  the 

22 


170  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

Saviour.  This  is  God's  appointed  way  of  acc-eas  to 
himself.  In  Christ  we  come  ;  through  Clirist  we  come ; 
ill  the  name  of  Christ  we  come ;  for  Christ's  sake  we  ask 
the  Father  to  accept  and  bless  us.  These  are  various 
modes  of  expression,  but  they  all  denote  mediation  and 
are  peculiar  to  the  Son.  Our  prayers  and  our  praises 
ascend  to  the  Father  through  the  Son  and  by  the  one 
Spirit  who  originates  and  directs  them.  The  position 
of  the  Father  is  the  throne;  the  Son,  as  Mediator, 
stands  before  the  throne  or  at  the  right  hand  of  God ; 
the  Holy  Spirit  dwells  in  the  Church  as  his  temple,  and 
by  him  all  good  desires  and  heavenly  aspirations  are 
generated.  In  the  same  way,  every  good  gift  comes 
from  the  Father  through  the  Son,  and  is  brought  into 
the  life  and  experience  of  t!;e  believer  by  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Thus  the  Spirit  works  m  us,  the  Son  for  us, 
and  the  Father  is  the  end  and  object  of  all  working 
whatsoever.  The  Father's  love  is  the  jjege  or  fountain- 
head  of  fullness  for  the  needy  creation,  and  through  the 
Son,  the  Mediator,  this  fullness  flows  forth  in  streams 
of  blessing  in  every  direction ;  while  the  Holy  Ghost, 
the  Comforter  and  Quickener,  prepares  the  soil  for  the 
seed  and  fructifies  the  vineyard  with  the  streams  of  re- 
freshing that  make  glad  the  city  of  God.  This  is  in- 
deed grace  !  This  is  the  means  of  grace  !  The  Church 
of  Jesus  is  surrounded  with  all  kinds  of  heavenly  influ- 
ences. She  moves  in  one  perpetual  circle  of  manifold, 
ever-varying,  all-comprehending  love,  whose  centre, 
circumference  and  fullness  is  God  the  Father,  from 
whom  all  proceeds  and  to  whom  all  returns ;  the  Son 
the  Mediator,  the  God-Man  on  earth  and  the  Man- 
God  in  heaven,  through  whom  the  Godhead  conde- 
scends to  bless  ;  and  the  Holy  Spirit  the  Indweller,  who 


CHAPTER   II.     VERSES   11-22.  171 

consecrates  the  temple  and  awakens  and  sustains  tlie 
fervor  of  the  worshipers.  This  glorious  God  is  ours, 
this  God  of  boundless  love.  You  live,  move  and 
breathe  in  him,  brother  ;  and  though,  like  the  prodigal, 
you  may  have  been  in  the  far  country,  he  seeks  to 
give  you  the  name  and  the  place  and  the  honors  of  a 
son.  Do  you  know  him  ?  He  is  your  Father.  Ap- 
proach, and  you  will  find  him  love ! 

Fourteenth.  The  holy  temple.  This  is  the  substance 
of  verses  19-22.  This  fine  figure  and  other  similar 
ones  are  the  basis  of  the  idea  which  Augustine  incor- 
porated in  the  name  of  his  most  profound  and  popu- 
lar work  The  City  of  God.  The  words  "  strangers " 
and  "foreigners"  are  opposed  to  "fellow-citizens"  and 
"  household,"  and  refer  to  what  they  were  in  the  state 
of  nature.  They  were  strangers  and  foreigners,  but 
they  are  so  no  more.  They  are  now  denizens  of  the 
Holy  City  and  members  of  the  family  of  God.  The 
j)artition-wall  is  taken  down,  the  distinction  between 
"the  people"  and  "the  Gentiles,"  so  far  as  it  refers  to 
religious  privileges,  is  removed,  and  all  believers  are 
fellow-citizens  in  the  heavenly  polity  or  New-Jerusa- 
lem citizenship  (Phil.  iii.  20),  of  which  Canaan,  Jeru- 
salem and  the  whole  Jewish  economy  were  but  the 
types.  City  and  house  are  the  great  ideas  of  the 
jjassage,  and  they  show  the  twofold  relations  of  the 
Church  to  God.  Grace  has  made  us  a  nation,  a  holy 
city,  whose  God  is  the  Lord,  whose  only  king  and 
ruler  is  Jehovah.  We  are  fellow-citizens  with  the 
saints  in  light,  but  this  relation,  however  honorable, 
is  external  and  national,  the  relation  between  a  city 
and  its  king,  and  hence  he  adds  the  name  "  household 
of  Godr     Ye  are  not  only  his  people,  but  his  fam- 


172  GEAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

ily ;  ye  not  only  dwell  in  his  city,  but  ye  live  in  his 
house.  He  is  your  God  as  the  chosen  people,  and  your 
Father  as  the  redeemed  family.  The  God  of  Abra- 
ham is  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  hence  Jews  were  the  servants  and  Christians  are 
the  sons  of  God  (Heb.  iii.  1-7),  and  Jew  and  Gentile 
are  swallowed  up  in  the  name  believer. 

(2)  Consider  further  your  privileges  in  this  passage, 
and  stand  fast  for  the  rights  which  God  has  given 
you.  Ye  are  built  upon  the  foundation  of  apostles 
and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ  being  the  chief  corner-stone. 
Apostles  are  put  before  prophets  because  the  office  is 
more  honorable — not  because  they  are  first  in  order 
of  time,  but  first  in  order  of  rank  and  dignity.  The 
apostles  of  the  New  and  the  prophets  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament are  the  foundations  of  the  living  temple  of 
God.  They  are  the  authorized  and  commissioned 
teachers  of  mankind,  by  whom  the  will  of  God  in 
things  pertaining  to  salvation  has  been  made  known 
to  the  world.  All  that  we  really  know  of  God  and 
the  divine  character  we  owe  to  them.  Without  rev- 
elation no  nation  ever  attained  to  the  belief  even  of 
the  divine  unity,  much  less  to  that  of  the  Trinity,  me- 
diation, redemption,  final  judgment  and  everlasting  life. 
They  would  be  wise  men  and  philosophers  in  our  times 
who  presume  to  slight  the  apostles  and  the  prophets,  and 
yet  but  for  them  they  would  still  have  been  sacrificing 
to  even  a  less  reputable  god  than  Mercury.  The  foun- 
dation-stone bears  the  weight  of  the  temple,  the  corner- 
stone unites  its  various  parts  and  the  top-stone  com- 
pletes it.  Jesus  is  related  to  his  Church  in  various 
ways,  and  every  name  and  office  only  serves  to  bring 
to  view  more  of  his  fullness.     The  apostles  and  proph- 


CHAPTER  II.    VERSES  11-22.  173 

ets  are  the  external  visible  foundations ;  he  is  the  real, 
invisible,  immovable  Foundation  (1  Cor.  iii.  11),  the 
Rock  of  ages  on  whom  alone  the  hopes  of  the  fallen 
race  can  rest.  His  person  is  the  centre  of  all  relations, 
near  or  remote,  by  which  the  Church  and  the  creation 
are  brought  into  various  degrees  of  fellowship  with  God. 
As  the  Son  of  God  he  is  the  foundation,  upbearing  and 
sustaining  the  whole  building ;  as  God-Man,  Mediator, 
he  is  the  chief  corner-stone,  which  unites  the  different 
parts ;  and  as  the  Son  of  man,  the  highest  and  head 
of  the  worshipers,  he  is  the  top-stone,  which  completes 
and  consolidates  the  whole  temple  of  God. 

This,  then,  is  the  idea  of  a  Church.  It  is  a  congre- 
gation of  faithful  men,  a  number  of  believers  associated 
in  the  ordinances  of  the  gosj)el,  growing  together  into 
a  holy  temple  in  the  Lord.  God  dwells  in  them  as  his 
house ;  is  seen,  manifested  and  worshiped  in  them  as 
his  temple ;  makes  over  to  them,  as  his  family,  all  the 
divine  promises ;  and  finally  glorifies  them  in  his 
heavenly  kingdom.  These  are  the  elect,  chosen  before 
the  foundation  of  the  world  ;  the  redeemed,  the  called, 
the  faithful  servants  who  hide  not  their  talents  in  the 
earth  ;  the  branches  of  the  vine,  the  trees  of  his  plant- 
ing, the  members  of  his  household,  the  stones  of  his 
temple,  the  heirs  of  his  purchased  possession,  the  wit- 
nesses of  his  grace  and  the  expectants  of  his  glory. 

My  brother,  are  you  a  stone  in  this  temple  ?  Are  you 
so  fitted  into  some  place  that  the  strength  of  the  build- 
ing is  yours,  to  enable  you  to  resist  the  storms  ?  Then 
walk  in  love  as  Christ  also  hath  loved  you  and  given  him- 
self an  offering  and  a  sacrifice  to  God  for  a  sweet-smell- 
ing savor  (Eph.  v.  2).  Do  not  forgot  where  your  treas- 
ure is,  even  in  heaven,  au<l  there  let  your  heart  be  also. 


CHAPTEE    VI. 

For  this  cause  I  Paul,  the  prisoner  of  Jesus  Christ  for  you  Gentiles, 
if  ye  have  heard  of  the  dispensation  of  the  grace  of  God  which  is 
given  me  to  you-ward:  how  that  by  revelation  he  made  known  unto 
me  the  mystery  (as  I  wrote  afore  in  few  words,  whereby,  when  ye 
read,  ye  may  understand  my  knowledge  in  the  mystery  of  Christ) ; 
which  in  other  ages  was  not  made  known  unto  the  sons  of  men,  as  it 
is  now  revealed  unto  his  holy  apostles  and  prophets  by  the  Spirit ;  that 
the  Gentiles  should  be  fellow-heirs,  and  of  the  same  body,  and  par- 
takers of  his  promise  in  Christ  by  the  gospel:  whereof  I  was  made 
a  minister,  according  to  the  gift  of  the  grace  of  God  given  unto  me 
by  the  effectual  working  of  his  .power.  Unto  me,  who  am  less  than 
the  least  of  all  saints,  is  this  grace  given,  that  I  should  preach  among 
the  Gentiles  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ;  and  to  make  all  men 
see  what  is  the  fellowship  of  the  mystery,  which  from  the  beginning 
of  the  world  hath  been  hid  in  God,  who  created  all  things  by  Jesus 
Christ;  to  the  intent  that  now  unto  the  principalities  and  powers  in 
heavenly  places  might  be  known  by  the  church  the  manifold  wisdom  of 
God. — Ephesians  iii.  1-10. 

We  have  now  surveyed  the  proportions  of  the 
heavenly  temple  where  God  dwells,  composed  alike 
of  Jews  and  of  Gentiles  whom  the  Spirit  of  life  has 
quickened  by  faith  and  drawn  together  by  one  common 
hope.  This  is  my  doctrine,  and  for  this  purpose  I  am 
called  (says  Paul),  even  to  proclaim  to  the  Gentiles 
the  grace  and  compassion  of  God,  that  they,  as  well 
as  the  Jews,  may  be  incorporated  into  the  body  of 
Christ,  built  up  into  the  one  Temple  and  engrafted 
into  the  one  living,  life-giving  Vine.  There  is  no 
difference  any  more :  the  veil  is  removed,  the  partition- 

174 


CHAPTER    III.    VERSES   1-10.  175 

wall  is  broken  down,  and  in  the  whole  world  the  stream 
of  Jehovah's  love  finds  no  impediment  save  unbelief, 
which  shuts  against  it  the  human  heart.  The  time  is 
come  for  forming  a  new  community,  which,  rising  out 
of  the  ruins  of  all  former  kingdoms,  and  pervaded 
with  new  and  immortal  principles,  shall  open  the 
gates  of  righteousness  to  all  nations  and  shall  p(;ople  the 
heavenly  paradise  with  saints  and  heroes  and  martyrs 
from  regions  now  filled  witli  idolatry  and  spiritual 
death.  I  announce  to  all  sinners  a  Saviour ;  to  all 
outcasts  from  God  and  righteousness,  a  home ;  and  to 
all  prodigals,  a  welcoming  Father.  I  am  the  apostle 
of  the  Gentiles,  specially  commissioned  from  God  to 
break  down  all  national  distinctions  and  publish  the 
free  and  full  mercy  of  God  to  all  mankind.  This  is 
the  cause  of  the  Jewish  wrath  which  pursues  me  to 
the  uttermost  and  seems  to  be  satisfied  with  nothing 
less  than  my  death.     Hence — 

First.  My  imprisonment  (ver.  1).  I  am  for  this 
very  reason  a  prisoner  of  Christ.  I  follow  the  ancient 
commentators  in  supplying  the  words  "  I  am,"  as  being 
the  simplest  way  of  completing  the  sense.  I  preach 
equal  privileges  for  Jews  and  Gentiles,  and  therefore 
I  am  now  a  prisoner.  If  we  connect  "  for  this  cause," 
in  verse  1,  with  the  same  phrase  in  verse  14,  making 
all  between  a  parenthesis,  we  have  a  very  different 
meaning,  and  supply  the  ellipsis  thus :  For  this  caase 
I  Paul,  the  prisoner  of  Jesus  Christ,  bow  my  knees  for 
the  sake  of  you  Gentiles,  etc.  In  this  latter  case  the 
passage  is  much  weakened  as  a  proof  of  his  love.  "  I 
am  in  prison,  and  even  in  prison  I  pray  for  you,"  is, 
indeed,  kind  and  brotherly,  but  not  such  an  evidence 
of  love  as  "  I  preach  the  love  of  God  to  you  Gentiles, 


176  GKAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

and  therefore  I  am  in  bonds."  The  proof  of  my  love 
to  you  Gentiles  is  my  prison,  not  my  prayers.  For 
you  I  braved  the  fui^y  of  the  people  (Acts  xxii.  22 ; 
XXV.  11,  12;  xxvi.  17)  ;  for  you  I  had  to  appeal  unto 
Caesar,  and  for  your  sake  I  am  now  in  the  prisons  of 
Home.  It  was  the  love  of  Christ,  indeed,  which  con- 
strained me  (2  Cor.  v.  14)  to  testify  his  grace  to  those 
for  whom  he  died.  This  is  indeed  the  law  of  the 
Church  founded  on  grace,  and  in  another  sense  the 
law  of  the  race  founded  on  nature  and  the  unity  of 
mankind. 

The  Socinian  cavil  against  the  atonement  is  best  met 
here.      Is   it   rioht   that   one    man   should   suffer   for 

o 

another?  We  answer,  It  is  the  law  of  the  race,  and 
you  can  no  more  get  rid  of  it  than  you  can  get  rid  of 
growth  or  pain  or  death.  We  were  created  in  Adam ; 
we  fell  in  Adam ;  we  were  saved  in  Noah ;  the  curse 
on  Ishmael  and  Canaan  descended  and  still  rests  upon 
their  descendants  (Gen.  xxi.  9,  10;  ix.  25)  ;  the  Jews 
are  dispersed  through  the  world  for  their  fathers'  sins ; 
the  child  comes  w^eeping  and  shivering  into  conditions 
which  it  did  not  choose  and  could  not  avoid ;  the  friend 
suffers  for  the  friend,  the  father  for  the  son,  the  son  for 
the  father.  The  pilot  leads  us  upon  the  rock,  and  we 
all  perish ;  the  father  wastes  and  the  son  starves ;  the 
tyrant  brings  evil  upon  a  whole  nation ;  the  patriot, 
blessing.  All  these  show  plainly  enough  that  the 
Lord  deals  with  us  in  the  way  of  headship,  and 
that  for  blessing  or  for  cursing  he  treats  the  many  in 
the  one.  Atonement  is  no  strange  thing  in  the  world ; 
the  atonement  of  Jesus  Christ  is,  indeed,  the  wonder 
and  joy  of  the  universe,  but  the  principles  on  which 
it  rests  are  as  old  as  is  the  world  itself.     Hence  Paul's 


CHAPTER   HI.     VERSES  1-10.  177 

being  a  prisoner  for  the  sake  of  the  Gentiles  is  as 
just  a  ground  for  the  Socinian  objection  already  men- 
tioned as  that  Christ  died  for  the  ungodly  (Rom.  v. 
6.)  (Comp.  Rom.  ix.  3 ;  xiv.  15 ;  2  Cor.  v.  14,  15 ; 
Rom.  viii.  32.) 

Christ's  sufferings  were  indeed  expiatory,  because  he 
was  the  Son  of  God,  having  power  to  lay  down  his 
life  and  power  to  take  it  up  again.  In  this  he  stands 
alone ;  but,  in  so  far  as  he  was  the  righteous  One  con- 
tending against  the  ungodliness  of  man,  he  was  only 
the  suffering  Head  of  the  martyred  Church,  whose 
highest  glory  is  to  i  e  persecuted  for  righteousness' 
sake. 

Second.  The  second  verse  announces  the  dispensatioit 
of  grace — "{/'  ye  have  heard  of  the  dispefisation  of  (he 
grace  of  God'' — on  which  we  have  the  following  ob- 
servations to  make. 

If  here  might  very  well  be  read  "  since,"  as  in  Col. 
i.  23 ;  Gal.  iii.  4 ;  2  Cor.  v.  2,  where  the  thing  spoken 
of  is  not  doubtful,  but  taken  for  granted.  The  con- 
nection is  this :  "  You  know,  then,  dear  brethren,  that 
I  am  the  Lord's  prisoner  for  your  sake,  since,  or  for- 
asmuch as,  you  know  the  cause  of  it  in  my  miraculous 
conversion  and  my  being  called  to  the  apostolic  office. 
For  your  sakes,  too,  I  have  received  this  grace  of  God, 
that  I  should  be  the  econome  or  steward  of  the  heav- 
enly house."  Here  it  is  the  grace,  in  Col.  i.  25  it  is  the 
dispensation,  which  is  given  ;  and  the  meaning  is  near- 
ly the  same.  The  office  and  the  qualification  are  both 
from  God.  What  is  this  economy  or  dispensation? 
It  is  the  "  law  of  the  house,"  the  principle  and  mode 
of  housekeeping — the  ^''  Hanshaltvng  Gotten,''  accord- 
ing to   the  Germans.      The   idea   is   beautiful.      The 

23 


178  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

house,  the  household,  the  father,  the  family,  are  the 
holiest  things  on  earth.  There  all  sorts  of  varieties 
and  diversities  meet  in  unity — rule  and  obedience,  re- 
wards and  punishments,  hopes  and  fears.  There  are 
varieties  of  ages,  sexes,  characters,  conditions,  temper- 
aments, etc.,  and  the  scheme  of  disciplining  and  ruling 
the  whole  is  economy,  the  house-law  or  dispensation, 
and  the  person  to  whom  this  is  committed  is  the  econ- 
omist of  the  house,  as  was  Joseph  (Gen.  xxxix.  4),  or 
the  heir,  as  was  Eliezer  (Gen.  xv.  2;  xxiv.  2).  Hence 
it  is  easily  applied  to  civil  offices  (1  Cor.  iv.  2;  Rom. 
xvi.  23)  and  to  the  ministers  of  religion  (1  Cor.  iv.  1 ; 
Tit.  i.  7  ;  1  Pet.  iv.  10) .  Let  us  now  apply  these  prin- 
ciples to  the  passages  in  wdiich  it  occurs  in  a  religious 
sense. 

(1)  Our  text  (Ej^h.  iii.  2)  assures  us  that  the  apos- 
tolic office  is  a  dispensation  of  the  grace  of  God  for 
the  Gentile  world.  Keep  the  idea  of  the  household 
law  before  the  mind,  and  the  exposition  will  become 
easy  and  natural,  thus :  "  Ye  have  heard  that  God  is 
forming  his  house,  his  living  temple ;  and  the  law  of 
the  heavenly  architecture  is  that  Jews  and  Gentiles, 
rich  and  poor,  good  and  bad,  should  be  built  up  and 
cemented  together  by  faith  and  love  under  one  Head, 
Jesus  Christ.  This  I  am  commissioned  to  proclaim 
to  the  world,  and  this  is  the  dispensation  of  grace  which 
is  given  me  for  your  sakes."  The  house  is  one ;  one 
Father,  one  Elder  Brother,  one  family,  law,  faith,  to 
the  exclusion  of  all  national  or  ceremonial  distinction. 

(2)  The  dispensation  of  the  fidlness  of  the  times 
(Eph.  i.  10)  reveals  the  purpose  of  Jehovah  in  the 
Christ,  and  carries  the  mind  upward  and  onward  t-o 
the  perfected   happiness  of  the  creation   and   the  re- 


CHAPTER    III.     VERSES   1-10.  179 

vealed  glory  of  God.  This  housekeeping,  the  scheme 
of  paternal  government  under  which  the  Lord  is  bring- 
ing the  Church,  extends  to  all  nations,  generations  and 
ages,  and  is  to  embrace,  under  the  great  Steward  of 
God,  all  earthly  and  heavenly  things.  The  seeds  are 
now  being  deposited  which  shall  ripen  into  a  harvest 
of  glory ;  grace,  love,  faith,  suffering,  self-denial,  and 
all  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  are  but  the  initiatory  pro- 
cesses in  the  household  economy  of  God,  which  is  to 
unite  and  establish  for  ever  in  one  glorious,  unchange- 
able union  the  Creator  and  the  creation,  the  unfallen 
and  the  redeemed,  the  visible  and  the  invisible,  the  ma- 
terial and  the  immaterial  worlds.  This  is  a  great  econ- 
omy, a  glorious  family  law,  wdiich,  like  the  law  of 
nature,  but  still  more  enduring,  embraces  all  varieties 
and  extremes  and  gives  beauty  and  consistency  to  the 
operations  of  God  in  all  nations  and  ages.  Does  not 
the  heart  leap  and  the  eye  sparkle  when  we  think  of 
this  immortal  hope  ?  We  are  parts  of  this  system ; 
we  are  members  of  this  family ;  we  find  our  place  in 
the  economy  of  God. 

(3)  In  1  Tim.  i.  4  we  have  the  remarkable  expression 
The  dispensation  of  God,  which  is  by  faith.  Luther,  our 
translators  and  others,  following  the  Vulgate,  must  have 
read  oikodomia  instead  of  oikonomia,  or,  as  there  is  the 
difference  of  but  one  letter,  they  may  have  mistaken  the 
one  for  the  other.  Hence  we  have  edification  instead 
u:)f  "  dispensation  "  in  the  English  text,  which  makes, 
indeed,  good  sense,  but  is  without  authority  and  to  be 
rejected.  The  contrast  is  between  the  fables,  genealogies 
and  endless  questions  of  the  Jewish  rabbis  and  the 
diWixve  scheme  of  salvation  by  faith.  Wean  men's  minds 
away  from  foolish  speculations   concerning  ritualism, 


180  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

succession  and  outward  formalities ;  let  higher  objects 
occupy  your  attention  :  God  has  unfolded  the  plan  of 
salvation  by  faith,  and  this,  for  you  and  for  all,  is  the 
one  thing  needful.  Here  superstition  is  contrasted  with 
faith,  formalism  with  Christianity ;  priests  and  priestly 
dresses,  holy  times,  places  and  garments,  with  all  the 
foolish  questions  to  which  they  give  rise,  are  gone  for 
ever.  The  time  of  a  nobler  dispensation  is  come,  in 
which  God  has  become  the  householder,  his  Son  the 
steward,  his  Spirit  the  indwelling  life  of  the  family, 
and  faith  the  law  which  gathers  and  binds  them  to- 
gether. Not  the  Church,  but  Christ ;  not  the  "  do- 
and-live"  system,  but  the  economy  of  God,  which  is 
by  faith. 

Third.  We  have  in  the  third  verse  a  reference  to  the 
conversion  of  the  a2)0stle,  to  which  we  now  turn  your 
attention  for  a  little  while  :  ^''If  ye  have  heard  of  the  dis- 
pensation of  the  grace  of  God  which  is  given  me  to 
you-ward :  how  that  by  revelation  he  made  known  unto 
me  the  mystery''''  (ver.  2,  3).  I  take  the  word  revelation 
as  designating  the  visible  appearance  of  Jesus  Christ 
near  Damascus,  and  all  the  future  progressive  manifes- 
tations of  divine  truth  in  the  soul  of  the  apostle.  The 
visible  glory  was  probably  the  commencement  of  the 
work  of  grace,  the  starting-point  to  which  all  future 
revelations  are  to  be  traced.  In  this  sense  I  under- 
stand Gal.  i.  16  :  "  It  pleased  God  to  reveal  his  Son  in 
me,  that  I  might  preach  him  among  the  heathen."  The 
outward  preceded  the  inward  revelation,  or  perhaps  the}; 
took  place  at  the  same  moment  of  time.  The  natural 
eye  and  the  spiritual  were  both  enlightened  by  the  same 
celestial  glory.  It  is  manifest  that  revelation,  as  applied 
to  Christ  in  the  New  Testament,  does  not  mean  his 


CHAPTER  III.     VERSES  1-10.  181 

communicating  the  knowledge  of  God,  but  the  unveil- 
ing of  his  own  person.  Hence  it  is  often  ajjplied  to  his 
second  coming  (1  Cor.  i.  7 ;  2  Thess.  i.  7 ;  1  Pet.  i.  7 ; 
iv.  13;  Rev.  i.  1)  as  the  unveiling  of  his  glory  and 
majesty  before  the  nations  of  the  earth.  He  is  now 
within  the  veil,  but,  like  the  high  priest  of  old,  he  is 
coming  forth  from  the  holiest  of  all  to  bless  the  people. 
This  is  the  order  of  the  divine  procedure — first  the 
natural,  and  then  the  spiritual;  first  the  visible,  and 
then  the  invisible.  Hence  the  first  man  is  of  the 
earth  earthy ;  the  second  man  is  the  Lord  from 
heaven.  The  old  creation  precedes  the  new ;  the  Jew- 
ish economy,  the  Christian  ;  the  incarnation,  the  advent 
of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

But  why  did  God  thus  reveal  his  Son  to  Paul  ?  An- 
swer :  The  visible  glorious  appearance  of  Christ  to  the 
murderer  near  Damascus  (Acts  ix.  3,  etc.)  shows  not 
only  the  ineffable  compassion  of  God,  but  is  at  the  same 
time  one  of  the  most  striking  testimonies  to  the  truth 
of  Christianity.  That  one  fact  proves  the  death,  resur- 
rection and  glorification  of  Christ,  and  it  annihilates 
gnosticism,  pantheism  and  an  impersonal,  ideal  medi- 
ator. Paul  repeatedly  refers  to  it  (Acts  xxii.  6,  etc.). 
All  the  labors  of  his  life,  as  all  his  sufferings  for  Christ's 
sake,  are  based  upon  tlie  irreversible  conviction  that 
Jesus  the  Redeemer  met  him  and  sj^ake  with  him  at 
Damascus.  Besides,  Paul  was  the  apostle  of  the  Gen- 
tiles, and,  as  Mede  has  well  proved,  was  the  fit  type  of 
what  Sir  Isaac  Newton  calls  the  second  apostleship, 
when  the  Jews  shall  become  the  heralds  of  the  cross 
and  the  missionaries  of  the  world  (Isa.  Ixvi.  19).  Paul 
was  converted  by  the  personal  appearing  of  Christ,  and 
then  sent  to  enlighten  the  Gentiles ;  so  the  whole  Jew- 


182  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

isli  nation  will  be  converted  at  the  second  coming  of 
Christ  (Rom.  xi.  26),  and  then  made  the  means  of  life 
and  benediction  to  all  the  nations  of  the  world  (Rom. 
xi.  15).  Therefore  the  Jews  exist  still ;  their  sins  have 
not  been  able  to  break  the  chain  of  love  which  holds 
them  together  for  some  great  purpose  in  the  latter  day. 
Hence  they  are  ever  dying,  but  cannot  die ;  ever  per- 
secuted, scattered,  dispersed,  hated,  like  the  salamander 
they  emerge  out  of  the  fires,  as  full  of  hatred  and  of 
proud  defiance  as  before.  They  reject  the  mystery 
which  God  revealed  to  their  kinsman  Paul — that 
Jews  and  Gentiles  should  constitute  the  same  body 
and  be  partakers  of  the  same  promises  in  Christ  by 
the  gospel  (Eph.  iii.  3-6) .  The  purpose  must  be  great 
and  strong  which  thus,  contrary  to  all  human  reason 
and  experience,  preserves  them  a  distinct  and  separate 
people. 

But  observe  what  we  owe  to  the  conversion  of  Paul, 
to  the  appearance  of  Christ  at  Damascus,  and  learn 
how  the  results  illustrate  and  justify  the  miraculous 
event. 

(1)  In  the  life  and  labors  of  Paul  we  have  one  main 
proof  of  the  truth  of  Christianity.  Is  it  credible  that 
Paul  could  leave  all  that  is  dearest  to  men  in  this  world, 
suffer  for  the  name  of  Christ  beyond  human  endurance, 
and  finally  die  the  martyr's  death  for  the  sake  of  the 
Son  of  God?  It  is  credible  only  on  the  supposition 
that  Jesus  Christ  met  him — that  is,  that  Christianity  is 
true.  We  have  not  so  strong  evidence  that  Alexander 
passed  the  Granicus,  or  that  Wellington  died  at  Wal- 
mer  Castle,  or  that  Napoleon  met  the  czar  of  Russia  on 
the  raft  at  Tilsit,  as  that  Jesus  Christ  appeared  to  Paul 
at  Damascus.     If  the  life,  labors  and  death  of  Paul  do 


CHAPTER    III.     VERSES   1-10.  183 

not  prove  the  reality  of  his  conversion  by  Jesus  Christ, 
human  evidence  can  prove  nothing. 

(2)  To  the  event  we  owe  his  fourteen  E]3istles.  Tiiese 
are  the  noblest  treasures  of  the  Christian  Church,  and 
(inspiration  apart)  for  beauty,  sublimity  and  truth  sur- 
pass immeasurably  all  the  monuments  of  the  Greeks 
and  the  Romans.  They  are  as  different  from  any  four- 
teen letters  of  Cicero  as  is  the  sun  from  a  Roman  light- 
house. We  meet  God  in  them ;  the  sky  is  bright  and 
serene,  and  the  air  always  breathes  of  heaven.  No 
earthly  music  fills  the  full-orbed  heart  from  which  the 
notes  fall  into  the  sinner's  ear.     I  add — 

(3)  The  apostle  Paul  has  influenced  the  world  more 
than  an}^  other  man  that  ever  existed,  except  the  Son 
of  man  himself,  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  He  practi- 
cally opened  the  kingdom  of  heaven  to  the  Gentiles ; 
the  whole  Church  is  mainly  built  upon  the  foundations 
which  he  laid,  and  interpenetrated  with  the  doctrines 
which  he  taught.  Lay  all  these  together,  and  you  will 
see  the  importance  of  Christ's  appearance  on  the  way 
to  Damascus. 

But  we  come  now  to  the  fourth,  fifth  and  sixth  verses, 
which  give  us — 

Fourth.  The  mystery  of  Christ.  Mystery,  in  the  New 
Testament,  does  not  mean  something  which  we  are 
l)Ound  to  conceal,  but,  on  the  contrary,  something 
which  we  are  bound  to  make  known.  The  mysteries 
of  the  gospel  are  in  no  respect  the  counterpart  of  the 
ancient  heathen  mysteries.  It  has,  indeed,  never  yet 
been  proved  that  the  unity  of  God,  the  perfection  of 
his  nature  and  the  doctrine  of  a  future  life  with  him 
were  contained  in  these  impure  rites ;  and  even  if  they 
were,  they  could  be  of  little  use  to  mankind,  seeing  the 


184  GKAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

initiated  were  bound  by  the  most  fearful  oaths  not 
to  divulge  them.  The  mysteries  of  the  gospel  are  the 
great  truths  of  Christianity,  hitherto  imperfectly  known 
or  altogether  unknown,  but  now  revealed  by  the  Saviour 
and  his  apostles,  and  by  the  commandment  of  the  ever- 
lasting God  to  be  made  known  unto  all  nations  for  the 
obedience  of  faith.  (Comp.  1  Cor.  xiii.  2 ;  xiv.  2  ;  xv. 
51.)  We  are  not  to  conceal,  but  to  make  known,  the 
doctrines  of  the  gospel  ;  we  are  saved  by  faith,  not  by 
the  incantation  of  priestly  performers;  and  hence  we 
preach  the  atonement  without  reserve  and  proclaim 
universally  the  justifying  righteousness  of  the  Re- 
deemer. 

(1)  The  mystery  of  Christ  seems  to  refer  primarily 
to  his  person  as  the  God-Man,  in  whom  all  the  fullness 
of  the  Godhead  substantially  dwells  (Col.  ii.  9)  ;  hence 
it  is  written,  "  Great  is  the  mystery  of  godliness :  God 
was  manifest  in  the  flesh,  justified  in  the  Spirit,  seen  of 
angels,  preached  unto  the  Gentiles,  believed  on  in  the 
world,  received  up  into  glory"  (1  Tim.  iii.  16).  This 
wonderful  mystery  of  godliness  is  no  longer  hidden, 
but  revealed  in  the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God ;  the 
sea  of  divine  grace  and  love  has  burst  over  its  ancient 
bounds,  and  purifying  streams  from  the  smitten  rock 
flow  freely  and  for  ever  into  all  thirsty  hearts.  It  is 
a  mystery — not  because  it  should  be  concealed,  not 
because  it  cannot  be  known,  but  because  its  depth  and 
height,  its  length  and  breadth  of  boundless,  bottomless, 
immeasurable  love  to  man,  surpass  all  human  under- 
standing. The  Word  was  made-  flesh.  The  living 
and  the  dead,  the  immortal  and  the  mortal,  met  in 
his  person.  The  glories  of  the  incorruptible  Godhead 
were  united  to  the  weaknesses  and  the  wants  of  our 


CHAPTER  III.     VERSES   1-10.  185 

nature ;  so  that  power  divine  is  brought  to  our  help 
igainst  the  enemy  and  all  the  attributes  of  Deity  are 
engaged  in  our  defence.  How  was  this  union  effected  ? 
By  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  This  I  know,  and  I 
seek  to  know  no  more.  Nor  is  the  doctrine  of  the  in- 
carnation peculiar  in  this  respect.  Nature  is  just  as 
mysterious  as  grace.  We  know  as  much  of  the  person 
of  God  the  Son,  the  Redeemer  of  the  world,  as  of  God 
the  Father,  the  Creator  of  the  world.  The  new  crea- 
tion is  not  more  mysterious  than  the  old,  resurrection 
than  death,  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  than  the 
existence  of  sin  in  the  dominions  of  God.  In  fact, 
we  know  the  modes  of  nothing,  and  should  mainly  seek 
to  make  ourselves  acquainted  with  the  great  realities 
which  lie  before  us  in  the  kingdoms  of  nature  and  of 
grace. 

(2)  Arising  out  of  the  mystery  of  godliness,  God 
manifest  in  the  flesh,  is  the  mystery  of  the  New-Testa- 
ment Church  to  which  the  apostle  specially  refers  in 
our  text  (Eph.  iii.  3-6).  The  Head  is  one  with  God, 
and  we  are  one  with  the  Head.  The  hypostatical 
union  is  the  basis  of  the  mystical  union.  The  Head 
and  the  members  of  the  body  personal  and  of  the 
body  mystical  must  pass  through  the  same  varieties  of 
condition  and  be  filled  with  the  same  mysterious  prin- 
ciples. He  is  indeed  the  God-Man,  w^hich  no  other 
can  be — God  with  us  on  earth,  and  man  with  God  in 
heaven.  But  the  believer  is  chosen  in  him,  crucified 
with  him,  buried  with  him  in  the  grave,  quickened 
with  him  in  the  resurrection  and  seated  with  him  in 
the  heavenly  places.  All  this  is  mystery,  but  it  is  the 
mystery  of  grace  and  love.  Love  unites ;  sin  separates. 
God  and  man  united,  Jews  and  Gentiles  united,  the 

24 


18.6  GKAHAM    ON    EPHP^SIANS. 

Church  and  the  Church's  Head  united,  the  heavens 
and  the  earth  united  (Eph.  i.  10),  in  one  centre  of 
unity,  Jesus  Christ  the  Mediator, — this  is  the  work 
of  love,  the  mystery  of  the  incarnate  God  working  in 
the  Head  and  the  members,  and  preaching  glory  to 
God  in  the  highest  and  on  earth  peace  and  good-will 
to  man. 

(3)  From  this  union  between  believers  and  Christ 
arises  another  mystery,  which  is  "  Christ  in  you  the  hope 
of  glory"  (Col.  i.  27).  This  is  the  gospel  mystery  of 
sanctification,  on  which  Marschale  has  written  so  well. 
This  is  the  end  of  the  other  two,  so  far  as  this  world 
is  concerned,  for  the  incarnation  and  the  Headship 
of  Christ  are  only  the  appointed  means  for  vindicating 
the  righteousness  of  God  and  communicating  to  believers 
the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  union  between  the 
two  natures  in  Christ  was  formed  by  the  Spirit  (Luke 
i.  35),  and  the  union  between  the  Head  and  the  mem- 
bers is  formed  and  kept  up  by  the  same  Spirit.  He 
was  generated  and  we  are  regenerated  by  the  same 
Spirit ;  he  received  the  Holy  Ghost  in  baptism,  and  so 
do  we ;  after  the  resurrection  he  received  the  Spirit  in 
a  fuller  and  more  glorious  manner  (Acts  ii.  33 ;  Ps. 
Ixviii.  18),  and  we  expect  also  the  fullness  of  all 
spiritual  blessings  in  the  resurrection  of  the  just.  This 
is  sanctification — "  Christ  in  you  the  hope  of  glory ;" 
Christ  filling  you  with  his  Spirit  and  forming  a  living 
temple  for  God  to  dwell  in ;  the  vessels  of  his  mercy, 
the  trees  of  his  planting,  the  bearers  of  his  cross  and 
the  heirs  of  his  glory. 

Gather  now  into  one  these  three  magnificent  and 
all-comprehending  truths — Jesus  the  incarnate  God, 
Jesus   the    living   Head    and    Jesus   dwelling   in   the 


CHAFrER   III.     VERSES   1-10.  187 

Church  by  his  Spirit,  the  hope  of  glory — and  you 
may  form  some  feeble  conception  of  the  mystery  of 
Christ  of  which  the  apostle  boasts  that  he  knows  so 
much  (E23li.  iii.  4),  hidden,  indeed,  in  other  ages,  but 
now  revealed  unto  the  holy  apostles  and  prophets  by 
the  Spirit. 

Fifth.  But  let  us  contemplate  for  a  moment  the 
Gentile  Church  in  verse  6:  ''That  the  Gentiles  should 
he  fellow-heirs,  and  of  the  same  body,  and  partakers 
of  his  promise  in  Christ  by  the  gospel."  We  do  not 
mean  here  to  imitate  those  who,  like  Palmer  and 
his  cosuperstitionists,  idolize  antiquity  and  church 
traditions.  The  place  for  such  men  is  Rome  or  Jeru- 
salem, where  they  can  surround  themselves  with  eccle- 
siastical fables,  miracles  and  traditions  like  a  spider's 
web.  The  New-Testament  Church  and  the  Bible 
Christian  require  no  such  helps.  The  noble  simplicity 
of  the  Church,  as  seen  in  the  records  of  the  apostolic 
ages,  is  to  the  Christian  heart  more  attractive  tlian  the 
false  glare  of  a  pompous  ritual  and  a  worldly  hierarchy. 
We  observe,  then — 

(1)  That  the  Gentiles  are  to  share  the  inheritance 
of  the  Jews ;  they  are  to  be  fellow-heirs.  The  Jews 
remain  in  their  ancient  privileges,  and  the  Gentiles  are 
to  be  grafted  in  among  them.  Salvation  is  of  the 
Jews.  The  root  that  bears  up  the  branches  is  the  Jew 
(Rom.  xi.  18)  ;  and  if  some  of  the  branches  have 
fallen  through  unbelief,  the  j^rivileges  and  the  prosj^ects 
of  the  nation  remain  still  to  the  remnant,  according  to 
the  election  of  grace  (Rom.  xi.  5).  But  what  were  the 
Jewish  privileges  ?  Paul  observes  (Rom.  ix.  4,  5)  : 
"  To  them  pertaineth  the  adoption,  and  the  glory,  and 
the  covenants,  and  the  giving  of  the  law,  and  the  ser- 


188  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

^ice  of  God,  and  the  promises ;  whose  are  the  fathers, 
ind  of  whom  as  concerning  the  flesh  Christ  came,  who 
IS  over  all,  God  blessed  for  ever."  These  glories  we 
share,  and  in  the  act  of  believing  on  the  Son  of  God 
oecome  entitled  to  them  all.  We  are  made  the  chil- 
iren  of  God  by  faith  in  Christ  Jesus  (Gal.  iii.  26). 
•'The  glory"  is  the  Shekinah,  the  symbol  of  God's 
glorious  presence,  which  resided  in  the  family  of  Seth 
till  the  Flood,  and  afterward  appeared  occasionally  to 
Moses,  Joshua,  Samuel  and  others,  until  finally  it 
dwelt  amono;  the  children  of  Israel  from  the  erection 
of  the  tabernacle  to  the  destruction  of  the  temple, 
taking  up  its  abode  over  the  ark  of  the  covenant  and 
called  by  the  Septuagint  "the  glory  of  the  Lord."* 

All  this  was,  no  doubt,  a  picture  or  type  of  Him  who 
is  the  true  tabernacle  (John  i.  14,  Greek)  of  the  wilder- 
ness and  the  temple  of  the  Promised  Land.  We  have 
this  glory  still  more  than  the  Jews,  for  we  have  the 
presence  of  the  Comforter  to  abide  with  us  for  ever. 
Thus  all  the  ancient  Jewish  blessings  have  become 
ours,  and  remain  ours  for  ever  on  the  single  condition 
of  faith.  He  that  believetli  on  the  Son  hath  life. 
Thus  the  Christian  system  is  the  development  of  prin- 
ciples which  lay  hidden  in  Judaism.  Moses  unveiled 
is  Christ,  and  the  Old  and  the  New  Testament  can  be 
no  more  separated  than  can  the  body  and  the  spirit  in 
a  living  man. 

We  occupy  a  higher  position  than  did  the  Jews ;  we 
are  farther  on  in  the  journey,  and  have  around  us  a 
much  wider  prospect.  Their  national  hopes  were  main- 
ly earthly,  and  ours  are  mainly  heavenly.  They  were 
a  nation  of  ser\ants  under  Moses,  the  faithful  servant 

*  Blooinfield. 


CHAPTER  III.    VERSES  1-10.  189 

of  God,  and  we  are  sons  under  the  Headship  of  Jesus, 
the  Son  of  God  (Heb.  iii.  5,  6).  The  law  which  gen- 
dereth  to  bondage  united  them ;  the  spirit  of  love  and 
liberty  is  our  bond  of  union.  Jehovah  was  their  God ; 
he  is  our  Father.  The  Church  is  founded  on  the  per- 
son of  the  7'isen  Christ,  united  with  him  as  the  Con- 
queror at  the  right  hand  of  God  and  filled  with  the 
powers  and  hopes  of  immortality.  We  see  sin,  holi- 
ness and  truth  with  his  eyes ;  we  contemplate  the  earth 
from  the  position  of  his  glory  in  heaven  (Eph.  ii.  6). 
His  Spirit  transfuses  and  fills  all  hearts,  and  lifts  us  up 
into  fellowship  with  God.  God  was  with  the  Jews,  and 
this  was  their  glory  ;  God  was  in  Christ,  reconciling  the 
world  to  himself,  not  imputing  to  men  their  trespasses, 
and  this  is  our  glory.  Heavenly-mindedness,  union 
with  the  Son  of  God  by  faith,  the  hope  of  his  coming 
and  kingdom,  of  being  with  him  and  like  him  in  his 
glory,  of  reigning  with  him  after  we  have  suffered 
with  him, — these  are  the  heavenly  things  which  we 
are  entreated  to  seek,  which  distinguish  the  religion  of 
Christ  from  all  others  and  gild  the  redeemed  Church, 
even  in  the  midst  of  much  earthliness  and  corruption, 
with  hues  of  celestial  beauty. 

(2)  Jews  and  Gentiles  are  of  the  same  body,  and,  as 
believers  on  the  Son  of  God,  stand  on  the  same  level. 
This  does  not  annihilate  the  national  distinctions  be- 
tween Israel  and  the  Gentiles,  for  of  tlie  distinctions 
and  their  results  in  future  ages  the  Scriptures  are  full. 
Israel  shall  be  restored  and  converted  and  highly  hon- 
ored among,  if  not  above,  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
But  now  there  is  no  nationality  in  the  Church  of 
God :  succession,  descent,  circumcision  in  the  flesh 
and  all  such  worldly  bonds  are  relaxed  in  the  seal  of 


190  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

faith — in  the  union  of  the  believing  soul  with  God  in 
Christ.  It  is  no  longer  life  flowing  through  a  nation, 
but  life  flowing  in  a  body,  its  free  and  natural  organ. 
Observe  that  the  Head  of  this  body  is  the  God-Man, 
Jesus  Christ  the  Mediator  (Eph.  v.  23 ;  1  Cor.  xi.  o ; 
Eph.  i.  22;  iv.  15;  v.  23;  Coh  i.  18;  ii.  10,  19). 
These  passages  sufficiently  demonstrate  that  Jesus  is 
the  Head  of  the  Church,  that  he  is  the  only  Head  of 
the  Church,  and  that  one  of  the  blasphemies  of  Anti- 
christ is  that  he  claims  to  be  the  head  of  the  Church 
and  to  sit  in  the  temple  of  God  (2  Thess.  ii.  4).  But, 
leaving  this  blasphemer  to  settle  his  account  with  God, 
let  us  consider  the  functions  of  the  Head.  First,  then, 
we  receive  nourishment  by  the  Head ;  so  the  whole 
Church  lives  and  increases  by  the  heavenly  manna  min- 
istered according  to  her  need  by  the  glorified  Head  in 
heaven.  Her  wants  are  all  supj)lied  from  the  living 
fount  of  glory  in  the  heavens,  from  which  she  drinks, 
in  the  person  of  her  Head,  the  streams  of  refreshing 
that  make  glad  the  city  of  God.  Secondly,  all  utter- 
ance is  through  the  Head.  The  wants  of  the  members 
of  the  body  can  be  made  known  only  through  the 
head  ;  so  our  wants  are  made  known  through  Jesus, 
the  Redeemer  and  spiritual  Head.  We  have  no  other 
way  of  getting  the  ear  of  God  but  through  the  mouth 
of  Christ,  no  other  name  but  his  in  which  we  can  ap- 
proach God.  He  is  the  way,  the  truth  and  the  life, 
and  the  one  Mediator  between  God  and  men.  There 
is  a  close  union  between  the  head  and  the  members. 
So  it  is  with  the  Church  and  her  risen  Head ;  there  is 
a  union — not  visible,  indeed,  but  real  and  vital — be- 
tween Christ  and  all  believers.  He  was  not,  and  is 
not,    the   private,   but    the    public,    Man,   the   official 


CHAPTER  III.     VERSES   1-10.  191 

Christ,  who  in  our  name  and  nature  died  for  our  sins, 
rose  for  our  justification  and  now  intercedes  for  us  in 
heaven.  He  is  at  the  right  hand  of  God  in  our  na- 
ture; pure,  glorious  and  immortalized,  our  frail  and 
corruptible  humanity  shines  forth  in  him  with  more 
than  its  pristine  excellence  and  beauty.  He  is  our 
Brother  and  Head — our  glorified  Brother  and  immor- 
talized Head ;  his  strength,  victory  and  glory  are  all 
ours — all  made  ours  by  faith,  which  unites  us  to  him 
as  the  Bedeemer  and  Head  of  the  body  which  is  the 
Church,  the  fullness  of  Him  that  filleth  all  in  all. 

The  body,  as  a  name  or  symbol  of  the  Church,  is 
very  striking  and  significant.  He  is  the  Head,  and 
they  are  the  members ;  so  that,  taken  together,  they 
make  up  the  colossal  man,  the  anointed  mystical 
Christ.  They  are  united  to  God  and  Christ  and 
one  another  by  the  indwelling  of  the  one  Spirit,  the 
Quickener  and  Comforter.  There  are  in  this  body 
all  varieties  of  fortune  and  condition,  of  tribes,  lan- 
guages and  colors,  in  all  stages  of  civilization  and 
mental  culture ;  some  of  them  are  triumjjhant  above, 
ot'.ers  are  fighting  the  good  fight  of  faith  here  below; 
there  are  children,  young  men  and  fathers ;  there  are 
infinite  varieties  of  trials  and  temptations,  fightings  and 
fears,  mountains  of  difiiculty  and  valleys  of  humilia- 
tion, yet  there  is  a  strong  hidden  life  pervading  them 
all  and  moulding  them  all  into  the  one  perfect  and 
glorious  image  in  which  the  beauty  and  majesty  of 
our  nature  is  to  be  consummated  for  ever.  They 
keep  gazing  upon  him,  and  are  changed  into  the 
same  image  from  glory  to  glory.  They  are  one  with 
Him  who  loved  them  in  faith  and  hope  and  charily. 
They  have  the  same  enemies,  the  same  friends,  the 


192  GEAHAM  ON  EPHESIANS. 

same  hopes  and  fears.  A  secret  sympathy  pervade? 
them  all  like  an  electric  fluid — the  love  of  Christ 
(2  Cor.  V.  14),  whic  i  obliterates  all  nationalities, 
smooths  all  asjoerities,  reduces  all  to  the  same  level 
of  guilt  and  forgiveness  before  God,  and,  like  compa- 
nies ascending  the  different  sides  of  a  mountain,  brings 
them  nearer  to  each  other  as  they  approach  the  end  of 
their  journey  in  heaven.  This  is  the  Church  of  Christ, 
and  all  other  descriptions — papacy,  episcopacy,  pres- 
bytery— are  not  the  boundaries  of  the  unsearchable 
love  of  Christ.  His  election  and  his  grace  are  free, 
and  it  is  only  ignorance  or  superstition  which  dares 
to  circumscribe  his  mercy. 

(3)  They  are  partakers  of  his  promise  in  Christ  by 
the  gospel.  This  promise  was  a  Jewish  hope.  He 
was  to  be  the  seed  of  the  woman  — a  Man  ;  the  seed  of 
Abraham — a  Jew ;  the  son  of  David — a  King; ;  the 
son  of  a  virgin — a  holy  Child.  But,  though  Abra- 
ham and  the  Jewish  nation  were  to  be  the  centre  of 
the  divine  manifestations,  the  effects  of  them  were  to 
flow  freely  out  to  all,  "  that  the  blessing  of  Abraham 
might  come  on  the  Gentiles  through  Jesus,  that  we 
might  receive  the  Spirit  through  faith"  (Gal.  iii.  14). 
Hence  the  apostle  says  the  Gentiles  are  partakers — or 
rather  joint-partakers — of  his  promise  in  Christ  by 
the  gospel.  The  Jews  are  the  root,  the  seed,  the  cen- 
tre of  blessing ;  Gentiles  must  come  to  their  light  and 
kings  to  the  brightness  of  their  glory.  This  explains 
the  difference  between  "of  faith"  and  "through  faith" 
(Rom.  iii.  20).  The  Jews  are  justified  out  of  the  faith 
that  belongs  to  their  race  and  nation ;  the  Gentiles, 
through  a  faith  which  is  foreign  to  them.  The  same 
distinction    runs  through    Ps.  Ixvii.  and   Isa.  xi.  and 


CHAPTER    III.    VERSES   1-10.  193 

many  other  scriptures.  So  the  ensign  is  of  the  people, 
but  the  Gentiles  seek  it  (Isa.  xi.  10) ;  so  Israel  shall 
blossom  and  fill  the  face  of  the  world  with  fruit  (Isa. 
xxvii.  6) ;  so  receiving  of  the  rejected  nation  shall  be 
life  from  the  dead  (Rom.  xi.  15) ;  so  the  gospel  was  to 
be  preached  to  all  nations,  beginning  at  Jerusalem 
(Luke  xxiv.  47).  Let  us,  then,  receive  the  promise 
of  God  in  Christ,  and  in  so  doing  we  become  the  true 
Jews  (Phil.  iii.  3),  denizens  of  the  New  Jerusalem 
which  is  above,  which  is  free,  which  is  the  mother 
of  us  all. 

Sixth.  The  apostolic  mimstry.  Come,  now,  and  let 
us  leave  for  a  moment  the  great  subjects  which  concern 
the  whole  Church  and  turn  to  individual  grace  in  the 
apostle  Paul.  The  history  of  the  whole  is  reacted  and 
reproduced  in  the  various  parts.  A  sanctified  soul  di- 
lated is  the  Church ;  the  whole  Church  abridged  is  a 
believer.  So  it  is  in  nature.  The  race  is  Adam  ex- 
panded, and  all  the  varieties  of  history  have  their  germs 
and  principles  in  each  individual.  In  the  ministry  of 
the  apostle  we  have  the  type  and  example  of  all  true 
ministry. 

(1)  He  says  (ver.  7),  "Whereof  I  was  made  a  min- 
ister, accor<ling  to  the  gift  of  the  grace  of  God  given 
unto  me  by  the  effectual  working  of  his  power."  The 
Greek  here  for  minister  is  deacon,  which  denotes  in  the 
word  both  official  service  of  a  particular  kind  and  ser- 
vice in  general.  As  a  rule,  the  higher  office  includes 
the  lower.  Paul  was  an  apostle,  an  elder,  a  bishop  and 
a  deacon,  though  bishoj^s,  elders  and  deacons  were  not 
apostles.  Paul  as  an  apostle  was  sent  of  God  ;  as  bishop, 
the  overseer  of  the  Church ;  as  elder,  a  wise,  experi- 
enced man,  like  Peter   (1   Pet.  v.  1)  a  witness  of  the 

25 


194  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

sufferings  of  Christ;  and  as  deacon,  the  simple  ser- 
vant or  minister.  The  word  seems  to  imply  earnest, 
dangerous,  hasty  service — a  service  which  leads  one 
through  dust,  like  the  swift  messengers  of  a  king. 
This,  then,  is  the  assertion  of  Paul :  I  am  a  min- 
ister of  the  gospel,  or  of  God  (1  Cor.  iii.  5 ;  2  Cor. 
iii.  6;  vi.  4;  1  Thess.  iii.  2),  or  of  Christ  (2  Cor.  xi. 
23;  Eph.  vi.  21;  Col.  i.  7;  iv.  7),  or  of  the  Church 
(Col.  i.  25).  These  expressions  are  not  contradictory, 
but  most  harmonious.  They  are  the  various  sides  of 
the  same  subject :  This,  then,  is  my  service  for  God,  for 
the  gospel  of  God,  for  the  Son  of  God,  for  the  Church 
of  God.  I  live  in  and  for  this  ministry  ;  I  have  neither 
time,  wish  nor  heart  for  anything  else.  Love — the  love 
of  Christ — constrains  me  (2  Cor.  v.  14),  that  I  can  glory 
only  in  the  cross,  and  write  only  of  the  Crucified,  and 
live  and  labor  and  die  only  for  him.  This  is  the  min- 
istry which  I  have  received  from  him — sometimes  mi- 
raculous, sometimes  apostolical,  sometimes  episcopal, 
sometimes  presbyterial,  and  sometimes  as  a  daily  la- 
borer in  the  gospel-field  (2  Cor.  vi.  4).  This  is  the 
noble,  reasonable  service  which  can  be  rendered  to  him, 
alike  in  sorrow  and  in  joy,  among  friends  and  enemies, 
in  the  temple  of  Jerusalem,  in  the  perils  of  the  deep, 
in  the  dungeons  of  Rome,  in  the  household  of  Caesar. 
(2)  But  we  note  that  Paul  was  made  a  minister.  It 
was  not  by  his  own  will  or  attainments  that  he  arrived 
at  the  high  honor  of  laboring  and  suffering  for  Jesus 
Christ.  It  was  the  choice  of  God,  and  not  his  own 
choice  (Gal.  i.  15,  16)  :  God's  eternal  love,  without 
merit  or  deserving  on  my  part,  but  according  to  the 
gift  of  his  grace,  made  me  what  I  am  by  the  effectual 
working  of  his  power.     So  it  is  still,  and  should  be, 


CHAPTER    III.    VERSES   1-10.  195 

with  every  minister  of  the  gospel.  He  receives  the 
heavenly  call,  and  consults  no  more  with  flesh  and 
blood.  He  knows  neither  the  ambition  nor  the  hy- 
pocrisy of  the  nolo  episcopari  of  after- times,  but,  at- 
tributing all  to  the  grace  of  God,  faces  without  fear  the 
perils  of  an  unknown  and  tempestuous  course.  Paul's 
start." ng-point  was  simply  grace;  and  grace  followed  him 
like  the  stream  in  the  wilderness,  from  Damascus,  where 
he  first  began  to  live,  to  Kome,  where  he  finally  received 
the  martyr's  crown ;  and  all  his  Epistles,  whatever  the 
occasion  and  however  various,  breathe  only  and  always 
the  healthful  spirit  of  free  grace.  This  is,  indeed,  the 
main  difference  between  the  gospel  and  other  systems 
of  religion,  whether  they  be  apostasies,  as  Judaism  and 
the  papacy,  or  impostures,  as  Hinduism  and  Islam. 
Merit  characterizes  the  one,  grace  the  other. 

We  come  now  to — 

Seventh.  The  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ  (ver.  8). 
You  cannot  fail  to  notice  the  wonderful  contrasts,  va- 
rieties and  excellences  of  the  person  of  Christ.  The 
Psalms  contemplate  him  as  the  poor  man  crying  to  the 
Lord  for  help ;  the  Gospels  describe  him  as  the  public 
preacher,  the  homeless  sufferer.  If  riches  consist  in 
houses,  lands,  money,  friends  and  worldly  considera- 
tion, he  was  poor  indeed,  for  he  had  none  of  these. 
Though  the  Heir  of  the  house  of  David,  he  was  born 
in  a  stable  ;  no  train  of  courtly  ministers  welcomed  into 
life  the  Child  of  so  many  prophecies  and  the  Harbinger 
of  such  immortal  hopes.  Shepherds,  star-directed  sages 
and  angelic  hosts  might  be  attracted  to  the  birthplace 
of  the  Prince  of  life,  but  the  great  world  slept  on  and 
knew  not  the  day  of  its  visitation.  His  birth,  his  life 
and  his  death  were  all  equally  inconsistent  with  the 


196  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

general  estimate  of  wealth :  "  Ye  know  the  grace  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  though  he  was  rich,  yel 
for  your  sakes  he  became  poor,  that  ye  through  hi;- 
poverty  might  be  rich"   (2  Cor.  viii.  9). 

But  what  are  the  riches  mentioned  in  Scrij^ture ! 
These  are  manifold,  such  as  the  riches  of  his  goodness 
which  means  the  riches  of  one  disposed  to  bless  us  anc 
do  us  good ;  here,  indeed,  the  riches  of  Christ  are  un- 
searchable. The  fountain  was  ever  full,  alike  in  the 
Father's  bosom  and  on  the  accursed  tree,  the  ocean- 
fountain  of  his  good-will  to  men.  Then  there  are  the 
riches  of  his  grace  (Eph.  ii.  7),  which  is  nothing  but 
goodness  brought  into  action,  and  here,  too,  the  riches  of 
Christ  are  unseareliable.  We  read  of  the  riches  of  his 
mercy,  the  riches  of  his  wisdom,  the  riches  of  his  glory  ; 
and  in  all  these  respects  Jesus  Christ  is  presented  to  the 
believer,  in  Scripture,  as  the  all-sufficient  portion  of 
the  soul,  presenting  ever- varied  and  new  delights  and 
satisfying  its  enlarging  faculties  with  all  the  fullness 
of  God. 

We  may  realize  something  of  the  unsearchable  riches 
of  Christ  by  glancing  at  his  character,  his  work  and  his 
dominion. 

(1)  His  character.  He  appears  before  the  Jewish 
nation  as  the  promised  Messiah  and  Deliverer,  and 
his  claims  are  rejected  by  the  great  majority  of  his 
countrymen.  Yet  his  doctrine  is  clear  and  uniform, 
and  his  teaching  elicits  from  his  enemies  the  confession. 
"  Never  man  spake  like  this  man.''  As  a  Teacher  he  is 
the  only  one  among  mankind  who  laid  the  foundation? 
of  a  purely  moral  and  spiritual  kingdom.  In  every 
word  and  in  every  act  you  meet  the  deep,  broad  lines 
of  perfect  human  sympathy  and  love ;  yet  he  is  sur- 


CHAPTER  III.    VERSES  1-10.  197 

rounded  with  an  awe  which  prevents  all  familiarity 
and  makes  even  the  most  intimate  of  his  disciples 
afraid  to  approach  him.  Nor  is  this  marvelous.  We 
know  and  feel  that  he  is  human,  but  we  suspect  that 
he  is  something  more.  Then  there  is  not  only  love 
and  sympathy  and  human  w^eakuess,  but  also  the 
power  of  holiness,  goodness  and  truth.  The  light 
is  too  bright  for  us.  He  w^eeps,  indeed,  with  us,  and 
perfectly  shares  all  our  joys  and  sorrows ;  but  even 
in  so  doing  there  is  something  peculiar  and  striking. 
He  makes  no  mistakes,  as  we  do ;  his  words  are  with- 
out hesitancy,  and  his  actions  without  effort ;  he  has  no 
counselors  or  advisers  through  whom  he  arrives  at 
right  conclusions.  He  is  never  out  of  place ;  among 
the  Jewish  doctors  in  the  temple,  in  the  house  of 
Joseph  and  Mary  his  mother,  among  the  multitudes 
on  the  mount,  at  a  marriage-feast,  at  the  grave  of 
Lazarus,  in  the  judgment-hall  and  on  the  bleeding 
cross  his  character  appears  equally  beautiful.  Nothing 
is  distant  that  should  be  near,  nothing  forgotten  that 
should  be  remembered,  and  nothing  attempted  that  is 
not  performed.  He  speaks,  and  it  is  done ;  he  works 
and  is  not  weary;  and  all  that  we  must  admire  in  him 
of  the  human  and  tender  seems  to  flow  from  a  foun- 
tain that  is  divine  and  inexhaustible.  How  rich  is  the 
character  of  Christ!  Oh  how  full  of  all  tender  and 
holy  associations !  How  varied,  and  yet  how  simple ! 
What  names  and  offices  and  attributes  centre  in  him 
and  are  all  united  there!  Here  the  eye  finds  the 
centre  of  moral  beauty,  and  the  heart  the  home  of 
all  that  can  attract  and  tranquillize  it.  He  is  my 
Prophet,  Priest  and  King,  from  whom  alone  my 
spirit    obtains    knowledge,   pardon    and    power.      In 


198  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

him  we  have  all  the  hidden  treasures  of  wisdom  and 
knowledge,  the  well-spring  of  all  earthly  and  celestial 
joys.  The  vast  and  the  little,  the  awful  and  the 
attractive,  meet  in  his  person  in  wonderful  harmony 
and  beauty.  He  is  mortal,  yet  the  Author  of  life 
and  immortality  to  us  all ;  he  dies,  and  in  dying  he 
conquers  and  slays  by  being  slain.  He  ennobled  our 
nature  and  showed  to  the  angels  and  the  universe 
what  virtues  it  was  capable  of,  what  varieties  of  con- 
dition it  could  sustain  and  appropriate,  from  the  sta- 
ble of  Bethlehem  to  the  throne  of  God.  He  is,  in  one 
word,  Emmanuel,  God  with  us.  Such  is  his  character, 
and  surely  the  riches  of  it  are  unsearchable. 

(2)  Only  a  few  words  on  the  riches  of  his  work,  for 
the  theme  is  so  vast  that  we  cannot  enter  upon  it  par- 
ticularly. We  would  offer  only  a  few  hints  to  help  us 
to  understand  something  of  his  unsearchable  riches. 
His  work  includes  his  active  and  his  passive  obedience, 
his  doing  and  his  dying,  his  perfect  fulfilling  of  the 
law  and  his  perfect  atonement  on  the  cross.  This  is 
the  justifying  righteousness  of  Christ  which  is  imputed 
to  the  sinner  in  the  act  of  believing.  How  rich  in 
blessing  his  work  in  our  nature  has  been  no  mortal 
tongue  can  tell.  It  has  removed  the  barriers  between 
us  and  God,  so  that  mercy  may  flow  freely  without 
sacrificing  justice.  The  Sin-Forgiver  is  separated  from 
the  sin-indulger,  and  the  righteousness  of  the  inflex- 
ible law  vindicated  and  magnified,  even  in  the  fullest 
proclamations  of  his  pardoning  love.  For  you  it  has 
opened  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  The  span  of  his  life 
and  the  few  hours  of  his  death  have  perfected  a  work 
which  extends  its  blessings  from  the  fall  to  the  end  of 
time;    from   the   hill   of   Calvary   flows   the   fountain 


CHAPTER   III.    VERSES  1-10.  199 

which  is  to  fertilize  all  lands  and  refresh  the  whole 
heritage  of  God  w^hen  it  is  weary.  The  merit  of  one 
person  is  such  that  it  covers  and  cancels  the  guilt  of 
millions.  The  moral  beauty  of  one  marred  form 
(Isa.  liii.  1-6)  hides  from  the  eye  of  justice  the  apos- 
tasy of  a  world.  All  ages  are  interested  in  the  few 
hours  of  the  cross ;  the  hopes  of  all  cluster  around 
the  Man  of  sorrows;  and  ustice  and  mercy,  time 
and  eternity,  the  past,  the  present  and  the  future, 
the  glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  man,  are  all 
internally  and  essentially  connected  with  the  riches  of 
his  work.  The  hell  from  which  he  delivers,  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  which  he  opens  to  believers,  the  depth 
of  his  humiliation,  the  height  of  his  exaltation  in  our 
nature,  the  vindicated  law  of  the  Judge  and  the  mercy 
of  the  forgiving  Father, — all  tell  of  his  riches, 
the  unsearchable  riches  of  his  work  for  sinful  man. 
But  search  thine  own  heart,  brother,  and  tell  me 
what  it  says  of  unsearchable  riches.  Has  love  found 
no  echo  there — his  dying  love  ?  Can  you  say.  The  love 
of  Christ  constraineth  us  ?  Is  all  this  mighty  work  of 
God  only  a  name  for  thee  ?  Or  hast  thou  in  very  deed 
apprehended  with  Paul  the  unsearchable  riches  of 
Christ?  The  issues  of  eternity  are  at  stake,  and  the 
Lord  thy  Kedeemer  calls  thee.  Come !  Be  done  with 
excuses,  and  cast  in  thy  lot  with  the  Saviour  and  the 
saints.  He  is,  and  can  be,  more  to  thee  than  all  the 
world  besides.     He  lives  and  loves  thee  still. 

"  Come,  ye  weary  sinners,  come, 

All  who  groan  beneath  your  load ; 

Jesus  calls  his  wanderers  home : 
Hasten  to  your  pardoning  God. 

Come,  ye  guilty  souls  oppressed, 
Answer  to  the  Saviour's  call : 


200  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

'  Come,  and  I  will  give  yoii  rest ; 
Come,  and  I  will  save  you  all.' " 

(3)  His  dominion.  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Lord  and 
Redeemer  of  the  human  soul.  When  the  temple  has 
been  purified  and  garnished  with  the  fruits  of  right- 
eousness, it  becomes  the  choice  residence  of  the  Lord. 
From  the  inner  shrine  of  the  soul  he  rules  the  whole 
faculties,  thoughts  and  actions  of  the  man,  and  imparts 
to  the  newly-awakened  powers  of  life  and  activity 
within  him  fresh  zeal,  energy  and  distinctness.  He 
expels  the  idols  (1  Thess.  i.  9),  and,  having  purified 
the  temple,  makes  it  the  blessed  seat  and  throne  of  his 
own  pure  love.  Here  we  find  all  the  rich  treasures  of 
his  grace  in  manifold  use  and  exercise ;  so  that  the 
living,  conscious,  rejoicing  soul  finds  enlargement  and 
fruitfulness,  beauty,  contentment  and  strength,  in  sub- 
mission to  his  authority  (2  Cor.  v.  14).  Here  we  have 
the  beginning  of  his  unsearchable  riches,  the  seed  which 
shall  swell  out  and  fructify  until  faith  shall  be  lost 
in  sight  and  the  weeping  seed-time  (Ps.  cxxvi.  6)  be 
changed  into  a  harvest  of  glory. 

But  consider  his  riches  as  the  Head  of  the  Church — 
the  Ruler,  not  of  one  soul,  but  of  many,  the  King  and 
Governor  of  all  believers.  Sit  with  me  upon  the  hill 
of  Nazareth  or  the  Mount  of  Olives  and  contemplate 
the  unsearchable  riches  of  His  love  who,  erewhile  the 
weak  and  weary  Man,  the  sin-bearing  Lamb,  is  now 
the  Sceptre-Bearer  of  creation,  before  whom  all  the 
hosts  of  heaven  sing  and  worship  and  adore.  The 
stream  seemed  weak  and  shallow  at  the  beginning,  but 
it  flowed  on  age  after  age,  deepening  and  widening  as 
it  ran,  until  nation  after  nation  drank  of  its  waters ; 
and  it  flows  on  still,  and  must  continue  to  flow  until 


CHAPTER  III.    VERSES  1-10.  201 

the  whole  earth  be  turned  into  the  garden  of  the  Lord. 
This  is  the  reign  of  grace,  his  kingdom  of  righteous- 
ness and  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  its 
riches  are  unsearchable.  From  the  Father's  throne 
where  he  sits  he  governs  his  Church  as  he  jDleases,  and 
sheds  through  all  her  members  in  the  cycling  ages  the 
pulsations  of  his  own  ineffable  and  immortal  life;  so 
that  in  the  Head  and  the  members  there  is  one  heart 
and  one  spirit,  one  will  to  glorify  God,  one  victory 
over  sin,  Satan  and  the  world,  and  one  great  office  to 
present  the  riches  of  divine  grace  to  a  ruined  world. 
The  Church,  the  race,  the  angels,  the  material  universe, 
are  all  under  the  control  of  the  God-Man  (Eph.  i.  21, 
22),  and  the  unknown  power  of  the  Deity  before  which 
we  tremble  is  guided  by  the  known  love  of  our  God 
and  Father  in  Christ  Jesus.  This  is  the  glory  of  his 
dominion,  and  is  at  the  same  time  the  glory  of  the 
human  race.  He  guides  all  with  a  human  hand,  and 
man  has  been  manifested  as  the  royal  and  dominant 
race  which  through  the  ages  of  eternity  shall  stand 
nearest  Jehovah's  throne,  which,  no  new  creation  dis- 
placing or  succeeding,  shall,  in  the  person  of  the  ador- 
able Redeemer,  remain  for  ever  at  the  head  of  creation 
— ^the  finite  that  approaches  most  nearly  to  the  glory 
and  the  majesty  of  the  infinite  God.  Truly  in  his 
person,  in  his  work  and  in  his  dominion  we  see  the 
unsearchable  riches  of  Christ. 

Eighth.  Faith's  estimate.  But,  while  the  riches  of 
Christ  are  exalted,  man  is  to  be  humbled ;  and  this  can 
be  done  only  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  "  Unto  me,  who 
am  less  than  the  least  of  all  saints,  is  this  grace  given, 
that  I  should  preach  among  the  Gentiles  the  unsearch- 
able riches  of  Christ."     "  Less  than  the  least."     Such 

26 


202  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

irregular  forms  are  not  defects,  but  beauties,  and  arise 
from  the  necessity  of  the  case.  (See  3  John  4,  where 
we  have  a  double  comparative.)  The  Germans  use 
the  form  mehrere,  from  mehr,  and  the  Greeks,  in  both 
former  and  later  times,  used  similar  exceptionable  forms. 
(Sext.  Emp.,  ix.  406;  ApolL  Rhod.,  iii.  187.  See 
Buttmann,  i.  279,  and  Winer,  Gram.  %b.)  When  we 
meet  with  such  expressions  we  have  only  to  say,  "  Man 
was  not  made  for  language,  but  language  for  man." 
Paul  remembers  in  Greece  what  he  was  by  nature 
(1  Tim.  i.  13)  and  how  he  wasted  and  persecuted  the 
Church  of  God.  True  faith  humbles  us  and  makes 
us  feel  every  sin  as  a  stain  upon  our  white  robes  and 
a  wounding  of  our  Father's  honor.  He  considers  him- 
self less  than  the  least  of  all  saints.  He  was  late  in 
entering  the  Church  of  Christ ;  he  had  spent  much  of 
his  time  and  zeal  in  the  service  of  fanaticism  and  false- 
hood ;  and,  worse  than  all,  he  had  persecuted  and  wasted 
the  Church  of  God.  He  is  now,  indeed,  making  up 
for  his  former  error  and  ignorance  by  preaching  among 
the  Gentiles  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ. 

Ninth.  Teaching,  the  ChurcKs  duty.  She  must  labor 
in  the  same  field  with  the  apostles  and  follow  the  direc- 
tion and  guiding  of  her  Head.  What  was  the  apos- 
tle's aim  ?  To  make  all  men  see — that  is,  to  teach  all 
men  the  fellowship  of — the  mystery  which  from  the 
beginning  of  the  world  hath  been  hid  in  God,  who 
created  all  things  by  Jesus  Christ.  That  is  the  duty 
of  the  Church.  She  is  the  teacher,  the  educator,  the 
civilizer,  the  regenerator  of  the  nations.  Our  text  in 
this  ninth  verse  reads  fellowship  :  "A^id  to  make  all  men 
see  what  is  the  fellowship  of  the  mystery,  which  from 
the  beginning  of  the  world  hath  been  hid  in  God,  who 


CHAPTER   III.    VERSES   1-10.  203 

KYixated  all  things  by  Jesus  Christ."  But  the  better  read- 
ing is  "  dispensation."  (See  Bengel,  Wetstein,  Math- 
aer,  Grusbach,  Bloomfield  and  Tischendorf.)  Paul 
would  teach  all  men  to  know  something  of  the  dis- 
pensation of  the  hidden  mystery,  and  he  asserts  it  was 
hidden  in  God  from  the  beginning  of  the  world.  This 
ninth  verse,  then,  teaches  the  following  facts  and  truths : 

(1)  It  is  a  great  thing  to  be  a  preacher  of  the  gospel; 

(2)  Paul  was  the  preacher  and  apostle  of  the  Gentiles ; 

(3)  The  union  of  the  Jews  and  Gentiles  in  one  body 
is  a  great  mystery ;  (4)  This  mystery  was  hidden  in 
God  from  the  beginning  of  the  world ;  (5)  God  cre- 
ated the  world  through  the  agency  of  Jesus  Christ. 
These  things  the  Church  is  to  teach.  Her  duty  is  to 
teach  all  men,  to  make  all  men  see  the  glories  of  the 
economy  of  grace.  Not  to  sacrifice,  as  the  papists 
assert,  is  the  apostolic  ministry  appointed,  but  to 
teach  all  men  the  mysteries  of  the  gospel  of  Christ. 
Every  w^ord  here  negatives  the  idea  of  a  sacrificing 
priesthood  and  a  religion  of  symbols  and  sacraments. 
The  gospel  is  phos — a  diffusing,  sin-dispelling  light — 
and  by  its  very  nature  must  shine  if  it  exists  at  all. 
It  is  as  easy  to  conceive  of  the  sun  without  light,  or 
of  fire  without  heat,  as  of  the  gospel  without  an  ex- 
pansive and  assimilating  force.  The  seed,  however 
secretly  sown,  will  make  its  appearance  in  all  the  forms 
of  buds,  leaves,  greenness  and  manifold  fruitfulness. 
Hence,  as  the  star  which  shines  no  more  is  a  fallen 
star,  so  the  Church  which  is  not  a  missionary  Church 
is  dead  and  wants  the  first  great  sign  of  apostolicity — 
the  very  sign,  indeed,  which  made  the  early  Church 
the  wonder  and  the  glory  of  the  world. 

We  may  add,  here,  it  is  the  direct  command  of  God 


204  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

that  we  should  send  the  gospel  to  the  nations  and  teach 
them  the  present  economy  of  his  grace  (Matt,  xxviii. 
19,  20 ;  Mark  xvi.  15  ;  Luke  xxiv.  47  ;  Acts  ii.  38,  39 ; 
Rom.  X.  18 ;  Col.  i.  23.  (See,  especially,  the  fine  pas- 
sage, Rom.  XV.  25,  26.)  Those  who  think  otherwise 
are  acting  as  heathen  and  deceiving  their  neighbors 
with  a  false  name. 

Tenth.  But  what  are  they  to  teach  ?  Answer :  The 
dispensation  of  the  mystery  of  God.  The  apostle  re- 
turns to  this  subject,  and  we  follow  him  gladly,  fully  per- 
suaded that  God  is  wiser  than  men  and  that  our  noblest 
place  is  simply  to  learn.  Observe,  then,  on  the  word 
mystery  (which  occurs  Matt.  xiii.  11 ;  Mark  iv.  11 ; 
Luke  viii.  10 ;  Rom.  xi.  25 ;  xvi.  25 ;  1  Cor.  ii.  7 ;  iv. 
1 ;  xiii.  2 ;  xv.  51 ;  Eph.  i.  9 ;  iii.  3,  4,  9 ;  v.  32 ;  vi. 
19 ;  Col.  i.  26,  27  ;  ii.  2 ;  iv.  3 ;  2  Thess.  ii.  7 ;  1  Tim. 
iii.  9;  Rev.  i.  20;  x.  7  ;  xvii.  5-7),  that  it  is  not  some- 
thing in  its  own  nature  inexplicable,  for  nothing  is  or 
can  be  so.  God  understands  everything.  All  mys- 
teries in  nature  and  in  grace  are  in  themselves  clear, 
consistent  and  intelligible,  though  our  faculties  may 
not  be  able  to  comprehend  them.  Nor  is  it  something 
like  the  heathen  mysteries,  which  we  should  conceal, 
which,  like  the  Puseyite  atonement,  we  should  preach 
with  reserve — a  mystic  incantation  like  charms  of 
pagans  and  papists,  which  may  be  safely  committed 
only  to  the  initiated  few.  No;  it  is  something  that 
may  be  known  and  should  be  proclaimed  to  the  world 
(Mark  iii.  14 ;  Rom.  xvi.  25 ;  1  Cor.  iv.  1  ;  xiii.  2 ; 
Eph.  iii.  3 ;  vi.  19) ;  it  is  something  that  was  long  con- 
cealed, but  is  now  made  manifest  through  the  mercy 
of  God  (Eph.  vi.  19 ;  Col.  i.  26)  ;  something  that  we 
can  partially  understand  even  here,  but  is  to  be  fully 


CHAPTER  III.    VERSES  1-10.  205 

realized  in  the  light  of  the  heavenly  throne.  It  was 
''  hidden  in  God."  While  the  mystery  remains  hidden, 
he  is  God;  when  it  is  revealed,  he  is  Father.  We 
know  his  power,  but  not  his  purpose,  and  therefore  we 
tremble  before  him.  His  purpose,  revealed,  tranquil- 
lizes us ;  for,  though  it  does  not  diminish  the  power  of 
the  Deity,  it  shows  that  the  thunderbolts  are  guided  by 
a  Father's  hand.  God  and  Father — viz.,  nature  and 
grace ;  the  mystery  hidden  and  the  mystery  revealed  \ 
almighty  power  and  eternal  mercy — are  united  and 
harmonized  in  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  who  is  the 
central  Person  and  sustaining  Head  of  this  dispensa- 
tion of  manifested  mystery. 

I  have  already  expounded  economy,  or  "  dispensa- 
tion," and  need  not  here  refer  to  it  particularly.  It  is 
the  plan  or  purpose  of  Jehovah's  love  for  the  redemp- 
tion and  benediction  of  his  creatures,  laid  before  the 
worlds  (Eph.  i.  4)  in  Christ,  hidden  from  the  ages  (it 
is  folly  to  think  of  the  Gnostic  seons  here)  in  the  bosom 
of  God,  but  gradually  and  slowly  unfolding  itself  in  the 
cycles  of  time  like  a  seed  of  life  in  the  form  of  promise 
and  hope,  until,  in  the  Babe  of  Bethlehem,  in  the  great 
Teacher  of  Galilee,  in  the  dying  Lamb,  in  the  rising- 
King  and  Conqueror  of  sin,  death  and  Satan,  it  received, 
and  is  receiving,  its  full  and  final  development. 

Eleventh.  Who  created  all  things  by  Jesus  Christ 
(ver.  9).  This  teaches  that  Jesus  was  the  delegated 
agent  of  God  in  the  creation  of  the  world,  and  is  the 
same  in  substance  as  Heb.  i.  2  and  1  Cor.  viii.  6,  where 
the  phrase  "  of  whom  "  denotes  the  Father  as  the  source 
of  being,  or,  as  the  Greeks  express  it,  the  "  fount  of 
deity,"  and  the  phrase  "  through  whom  "  the  Son  as 
the  one  eternal  medium  between  God  and  the  creation. 


206  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

These  and  other  scriptures  clearly  enough  teach  that  He 
who  came  forth  in  the  Father's  name  to  save  us  by  his 
cross  went  forth  erewhile  in  the  Father's  might  to  cre- 
ate the  universe,  and  shall  come  forth  once  more  in 
the  glory  of  the  Father  as  the  Judge  of  quick  and  dead. 
In  him  the  will  of  the  Deity  takes  form  and  effect,  even 
as  in  the  Holy  Ghost  every  work  and  way  of  God  is 
finished  and  perfected.  But  if  "  through  "  be  distinc- 
tive of  the  Son  in  his  whole  official  character  as  the 
Kevealer  of  God,  whether  in  creation,  redemption  or 
judgment,  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  it  denotes  any 
natural  or  necessary  inferiority.  Other  words  are  used, 
and,  indeed,  every  form  of  expression  is  applied  to  him 
which  can  designate  the  Creator  of  the  universe ;  all 
things  were  created  in  him  and  through  him  and  for 
him  (Col.  i.  16).  He  is  the  upholder,  the  instrumental 
and  the  final  cause  of  all  things  (John  i.  3).  It  is 
therefore  the  doctrine  of  the  New  Testament  that  the 
Son  of  God  is  truly  and  properly  the  Creator,  and 
consequently  the  true  and  eternal  Son,  in  whom  dwell- 
eth  all  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead  bodily. 

But  what  is  the  nature  of  the  creation  mentioned  in 
the  text  ?  All  the  Socinians  and  Rationalists  of  former 
times  maintained  that  the  all  things  must  refer  to  the 
new  creation,  and  not  to  the  physical  world ;  but,  since 
it  is  found  that  the  words  "  through  Jesus  Christ "  are 
not  genuine  (Bengel,  Mill,  Griesbach,  Binck,  Bloomfield, 
etc.),  they  are  unanimous  that  "all  things"  refers  to  the 
visible  creation.  De  Wette,  indeed,  says  very  candidly 
that  there  is  no  necessity  for  spiritualizing  the  creation, 
seeing  the  words  "through  Jesus  Christ"  are  not  genuine. 
Thus  our  opinions  guide  our  principles  of  interpretation. 
It  is  true,  indeed,  that  Calvin  and  other  orthodox  inter- 


CHAPTER  III.     VERSES   1-10.  207 

preters  expounded  the  passage  as  referring  to  the  moral 
creation,  but  without  any  just  or  necessary  reason. 
When  criticism  leaves  the  natural  sense  of  words,  it 
becomes  a  nuisance  instead  of  a  benefit  to  the  Church 
and  to  the  world.  It  is  impeded  by  no  obstacles,  sticks 
at  no  absurdities  and  trembles  before  no  blasphemies. 
I  heard  one  of  the  leading  minds  of  Germany,  a  pro- 
fessor of  theology,  assert  with  all  gravity,  in  an  as- 
sembly of  divines  and  professors,  that  Paul  nowhere 
teaches  the  pre-existence  of  Christ,  and  he  set  himself 
vigorously  to  expound  Col.  i.  16  according  to  this  the- 
ory. It  was,  however,  tough  work,  and  reminded  me 
of  Robert  Hall's  allusion  to  an  ass  eating  thistles. 

But  let  us  now  turn  to  the  tenth  verse  and  contem- 
plate for  a  little — 

Twelfth.  The  manifold  wisdom  of  God.  The  wisdom 
of  God  is  the  divine  skill,  prudence  and  foreknowledge 
which  are  peculiar  to  the  Deity,  and  is  here,  evidently, 
to  be  taken  in  its  largest  signification  (Rom.  xi.  33 ;  1 
Cor.  i.  1,  21,  24 ;  Col.  ii.  3 ;  Rev.  v.  12 ;  vii.  12).  It  is 
applied  to  the  wonderful  manifestations  of  God  in  the 
person  of  Jesus  Christ  (Matt.  xi.  19 ;  Luke  vii.  35 ;  xi. 
49).  (Comp.  Matt,  xxiii.  34,  where  Jesus  appropriates 
the  wisdom  of  God  (Luke  xi.  49)  to  himself.)  Thus 
the  whole  plan  for  the  salvation  of  the  Church,  and  the 
execution  of  it  in  the  Head  and  in  the  members,  is  char- 
acterized by  being  manifold  or  multifarious.  The  Greek 
word  occurs  nowhere  else  in  the  New  Testament,  but  it 
belongs  to  that  class  of  compounds  which  any  Greek 
speaker  or  writer  could  form  as  the  occasion  required ;  '^ 
very  variegated,  many-colored ;  a  wisdom  which  bears 
examination   and  at  every  turn  unfolds  new  beauties. 

*  Ruckhert, 


208  GKAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

How  manifold  as  applied  to  the  different  states,  ages 
and  dispensations  of  the  Church  and  the  world !  as  ap- 
plied to  the  means  which  t'  e  Spirit  uses  in  the  conver- 
sion and  edification  of  the  Church !  as  to  the  trials, 
sufferings  and  temptations  out  of  which  the  Church 
emerges  fair  as  the  sun,  clear  as  the  moon  and  terrible 
as  an  army  with  banners !  Lo  k  at  the  divine  plan  in 
all  its  parts  and  consequences,  as  far  as  feeble  human 
minds  can  understand  it,  and  say,  is  not  the  wisdom  of 
Cod  manifold  ?  The  ancient  purpose  itself  in  the  bosom 
of  God ;  the  manifestation  of  it  in  the  Christ  in  time ; 
the  means  of  applying  its  blessings  to  the  souls  of  men  ; 
tlie  way  in  which  the  law  is  vindicated,  while  the  law- 
breaker is  spared ;  the  cross  of  Christ  kindling  in  human 
hearts  a  flesh-crucifying,  world-conquering,  death-defy- 
ing love ;  the  clear  immortal  hope  beyond  the  grave ; 
the  coming  and  kingdom  of  the  Son  of  man ;  the  prom- 
ises, prophecies  and  threatenings  of  both  the  law  and 
the  gospel, — all  these  are  manifestations  of  the  mani- 
fold wisdom  of  God.  Is  not  this  a  firm  ground  to  stand 
on  ?  Here,  brother,  is  the  Rock  of  ages,  on  which  you 
can  rest  with  safety.  Here  you  have  infinite  power  to 
defend  you,  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God  to  guide  you 
in  all  things,  and  eternal  love  to  transform  you  into  the 
divine  image. 

But  this  manifold  wisdom  of  God  is  made  known  by 
the  Church  to  the  powers  and  principalities  in  the 
heavenly  abodes:  "To  the  intent  that  now  unto  the 
j)7'incipalities  and  powers  in  heavenly  places  might  be 
knoivn  by  the  Church  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God^ 
These  are  the  angels  who  inhabit  the  heavenly  house. 
(See  Eph.  i.  21 ;  iii.  10 ;  Col.  ii.  10.)  (Comp.  1  Cor. 
xiv.  24  ;  Eph.  vi.  12  ;  Col.  i.  1(> ;  ii.  15  ;   llom.  viii.  38.) 


CHAPTER   III.     VERSES   1-10.  209 

Christ  himself  is  Arche,  the  head  and  origin  of  all 
authority  and  power  (Col.  i.  16-18),  and  these  pow- 
ers and  principalities  of  heaven  are  the  messengers 
and  supporters  of  his  throne.  One  would  think  this 
verse  plainly  enough  teaches  the  doctrine  of  angels ; 
but  no :  the  German  Saddueees  can  see  no  angels  in 
this  or  in  any  other  passage  of  Scripture.  Zeger 
makes  them  earthly  rulers ;  Schoetten,  Jewish  rabbis ; 
and  Till,  heathen  priests.  Anything  you  like  but  an- 
gels !  O  ye  materialists,  ye  swinish  brood  of  Epicu- 
rus!  But  ye  are  learned  and  wise!  Go  herd  with 
your  brother-brutes  in  your  filthy  sty,  and  grunt,  as 
ye  have  no  voice  for  singing.  Beauty,  majesty  and 
glory  have  no  charms  for  you.  Life,  immortality, 
future  glory,  the  golden  harps,  the  songs  of  the  sera- 
phim, can  draw  no  sympathy  from  your  dull,  stupid 
affections.  Your  hearts  are  only  muscles,  your  souls 
configurations  of  the  brain  ;  four  lusty  limbs,  with  a 
voracious  stomach  between  them,  make  up  your  idea 
of  man.  Death  is  the  end  of  the  journey,  and  anni- 
hilation the  hope  of  the  species : 

'"Eat,  drink  and  die!     What  can  the  rest  avail  us?' 
So  said  the  royfil  sage  Sardanapalus." 

But  how  is  this  wisdom  of  God  made  known  to  the 
angels  by  the  Church?  Be  it  remembered  that  the 
Church  is  the  theatre  on  which  the  o-reat  drama  of 
life  and  death  is  being  transacted,  the  battle-field 
where  the  two  opposing  kingdoms  come  into  contact, 
where  the  struggle  between  sin  and  righteousness  is  to 
be  finally  decided,  and  consequently  the  mirror  in 
which  the  angels  behold  the  struggles  and  the  tri- 
umphs of  redeeming  love.  They  followed  the  Be- 
ar 


210  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

deemer  to  Nazareth  (Matt.  i.  20),  to  the  wilderness 
(Matt.  iv.  11),  to  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane  (Luke 
xxii.  43),  to  the  grave  (Matt,  xxviii.  2),  to  the  Mount 
of  Olives,  and  from  thence  to  the  heavenly  throne 
(Acts  i.  10);  and  they  shall  come  with  him  when  he 
returns  as  King  and  Ju  'ge  (2  Thess.  i.  7).  Do  not 
the  angels  take  a  deep  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the 
Church  ?  (See  Luke  xv.  7  ;  1  Cor.  xi.  10 ;  Heb.  i.  14 ; 
1  Pet.  i.  12.)  In  order,  however,  to  see  more  clearly 
iiow  the  Church  manifests  the  wisdom  of  God  to  the 
heavenly  hosts,  let  us  consider  for  a  moment — 

The  Nature  and  Ministry  of  Angels. 

1.  We  may  learn  much  from  their  names.  The 
common  name  is  "  angels,"  which  denotes  that  they 
are  the  messengers  of  God  and  heralds  of  the  great 
King.  The  word,  in  both  Hebrew  and  Greek,  is  ap- 
plied in  a  great  variety  of  ways,  but  always  including 
the  idea  of  service  or  message-bearing.  It  may  denote 
priests,  prophets,  men  in  the  service  of  God  (Hag.  i. 
lo ;  Mai.  ii.  7;  iii.  1;  1  Kings  v.  5),  a  whole  nation 
(Isa.  xlii.  19),  Christian  pastors  (Rev.  ii.  1,  8,  12,  18), 
the  elements  of  nature   (probably)   (Ps.  civ.  4). 

They  are  called  saints  (Mark  viii,  38 ;  Luke  ix.  26 ; 
Acts  x.  22 ;  Rev.  xiv.  10 ;  and  perhaps  Job  v.  1 ;  xv. 
lo). 

They  are  also  called  sons  of  God  (Job  i.  6 ;  ii.  1  ; 
xxxviii.  7). 

In  Ps.  viii.  6  and  Heb.  ii.  7  they  are  probably  called 
elohim  or  gods. 

They  are  called  seraphim  or  burners  (Isa.  vi.  2),  and 
ehe7'ubim,  strong  ones,  bearers,  supporters  (Ps.  xviii. 
1]  ;  xcix.  1 ;  Ixxx.  1 ;  2  Sam.  xxii.  11). 


CHAPTER  III.    VP:RSES  1-10.  211 

They  are  the  watchers,  probably,  of  Dan.  iv.  113, 
and 

The  thrones  and  principalities  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, as  we  have  ah^eady  seen. 

From  these  names  we  can  conceive  something  of  the 
nature  of  these  glorious  beings,  and  we  shall  give  our- 
selves no  trouble  about  the  Jewish,  heathen  and  popish 
traditions  concerning  them. 

2.  There  are  various  qualities  that  are  attribute'd 
to  them  in  the  Holy  Scrij^ture,  such  as  that  they  are 
not  corporeal  beings,  but  spirits  (Heb.  i.  14) ;  they  are 
invisible  (Col.  i.  16),  and  to  become  cognizant  to  our 
senses  must  appear  (Luke  i.  11,  22;  Matt.  ii.  13,  19; 
Gen.  xviii.  2)  ;  they  are  mighty  angels  of  might  (Greek) 
(2  Thess.  i..7  ;  see  2  Pet.  ii.  11 ;  Matt.  xxvi.  53)  ;  they 
are  holy  (Acts  x.  22 ;  Rev.  xiv.  10)  ;  they  are  rational, 
wise  and  benevolent  beings,  as  their  various  offices  and 
occupations  show ;  they  are  very  numerous  (Dan.  vii. 
10;  Ps.  Ixviii.  17;  2  Kings  vi.  16;  Jude  14;  Rev.  v. 
10;  and  other  places). 

3.  As  to  their  offices  and  employments,  take  the  fol- 
lowing brief  synopsis  of  the  Scripture  doctrines  con- 
cerning angels:  (1)  They  glorify  the  most  high  God 
in  the  heavenly  temple  (Rev.  v.  11)  along  with  the 
redeemed  Church  (Rev.  v.  9,  10).  (2)  They  are 
guardians  of  nations  (Ex.  xiv.  19 ;  xxiii.  20 ;  xxxiii. 
2 ;  Num.  xx.  16 ;  Josh.  v.  13 ;  Isa.  Ixiii.  9  [some  inter- 
pret these  of  Christ]  ;  more  fully  in  Dan.  x.  5,  16,  20 ; 
and  in  Dan.  xii.  1,  etc.).  Michael  is  the  guardian  and 
defender  of  the  Jewish  nation.  (Corap.  Jude  9.) 
(3)  They  guard  and  protect  individuals  (Heb.  i.  14 ; 
Ps.  xxxiv.  7;  Gen.  xxxii.  1,  2;  Ps.  xci.  11;  Zech.  iii. 
5,  6,  7,  8).     (4)  They  execute  the  justice  of  God  on 


212  GEAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

men  and  nations,  as  Sennacherib  (2  Kings  xix.  35) ; 
as  Herod  (Acts  xii.  23)  ;  the  deliverance  of  Daniel 
(Dan.  vi.  27 ;  comp.  iii.  28)  ;  the  destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem (2  Sam.  xxiv,  16,  17)  ;  Nebuchadnezzar  was 
deposed  by  the  decree  of  the  watchers  (Dan.  iv.  13-17) ; 
they  are  (probably)  present  in  churches  (1  Cor.  xi.  10). 
(5)  They  shall  be  present  and  take  part  in  the  judg- 
ment of  the  great  day  (Matt.  xxiv.  30,  31  ;  xiii.  41 ; 
I'Cor.  XV.  52;  1  Thess.  iv.  16). 

Let  these  remarks  suffice  for  the  present  on  the 
nature  and  the  offices  of  the  angels,  and  say,  are  these 
great  and  glorious  beings  indifferent  spectators  when 
tlie  wonders  of  redeeming  love  are  being  accomplished 
before  their  eyes  ?  But  what  do  they  see  there  ?  They 
see  God's  estimate  of  man,  the  value  of  the  human  soul, 
the  price  which  divine  love  paid  for  it,  the  hatred  of 
Jehovah  against  sin,  and  the  absolute  necessity  of  holi- 
ness as  the  law  which  binds  the  universe  to  God.  In 
all  these  things  the  Church  is  their  teacher.  They  get 
new  views  of  grace,  of  God,  of  divine  love,  of  provi- 
dence, of  the  eternal  decrees  and  of  the  manifold 
wisdom  of  the  Creator  and  Redeemer  in  all  his  works. 
They  see  jierfect  justice  in  all  its  flaming  lineaments 
sweetly  embracing  the  most  tender  and  forgiving  love, 
the  Creator  and  the  Redeemer  07ie,  the  sin-avenging 
Jjawgiver  blotting  out  transgression,  while  justice, 
untarnished  and  immutable,  retains  all  its  inviolable 
sanctions.  They  see  the  purpose  of  Jehovah  ripening 
into  maturity  as  the  ages  roll  on ;  and,  seeing  as  they 
do  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  our  Brother  and  Redeemer, 
throned  in  glory  above  them,  they  look  down  upon  us 
in  our  world  of  tempests  and  trials  with  eyes  of  com- 
passion, while    they  anticipate  with    delight    the  time 


CHAPTER    III.    VERSES   1-10.  213 

which    shall  reunite  the  Head  and  the  members  and 
complete  .the  glorious  company  of  the  redeemed. 

"  Then  shall  the  harps  and  choirs  above 
Dwell  on  his  vast,  his  wondrous,  love; 
Divine  the  notes  and  sweet  the  strain: 

'  Worthy  the  Lamb  that  once  was  slain !' 

"  With  them  we  gladly,  humbly  join 
In  praise  so  joyful,  so  divine; 
No  more  of  sin  shall  we  complain. 
But  sing,  'The  Lamb  that  once  was  slain  I'" 


CHAPTER  VII. 

According  to  the  eternal  purpose  which  he  purposed  in  Christ  Jesus 
our  Lord :  in  whom  we  have  boldness  and  access  with  confidence  by 
the  faith  of  him.  Wherefore  I  desire  that  ye  faint  not  at  my  trib- 
ulations for  you,  which  is  your  glory.  For  this  cause  I  bow  my  knees 
unto  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  of  whom  the  whole  family 
in  heaven  and  earth  is  named,  that  he  would  grant  you,  according  to 
the  riches  of  his  glory,  to  be  strengthened  with  might  by  his  Spirit 
in  the  inner  man ;  that  Christ  may  dwell  in  your  hearts  by  faith  ;  that 
ye,  being  rooted  and  grounded  in  love,  may  be  able  to  comprehend 
with  all  saints  what  is  the  breadth,  and  length,  and  depth,  and  height ; 
and  to  know  the  love  of  Christ,  which  passeth  knowledge,  that  ye 
might  be  filled  with  all  the  fullness  of  God.  Now  unto  him  that  is 
able  to  do  exceeding  abundantly  above  all  that  we  ask  or  think,  accord- 
ing to  the  power  that  worketh  in  us,  unto  him  be  glory  in  the  Church 
by  Christ  Jesus  throughout  all  ages,  world  with  end.  Amen. — Ephe- 
SIANS  iii.  11-21. 

We  have  considered  at  some  length  the  varied  and 
extensive  jfield  into  which  the  apostle  led  us  in  the 
foregoing  verses.  His  own  nothingness  contrasts  finely 
with  the  majesty  of  grace.  He  is  full  of  the  theme  of 
love,  and  seems  at  a  loss  for  words  to  express  the  riches 
of  Christ.  The  calling  of  the  Gentiles,  the  office  of 
the  ministry,  the  nothingness  of  man,  the  unsearchable 
riches  of  Christ,  the  mystery  of  God's  love,  the  cre- 
ation of  the  world  through  Christ  and  the  manifold 
wisdom  of  God  in  the  Church, — all  pass  in  rapid  suc- 
cession before  the  mind  and  leave  us  bewildered  with 
the  variety  and  beauty  of  the  picture.  It  presents 
many  tints,  but  they  are  all  of  heaven ;  many  rays  of 

214 


CHAPTER   III.     VERSES  11-21.  215 

various  colors,  but  they  all  centre  in  or  emanate  from 
the  Sun  of  righteousness ;  many  streamlets  to  refresh 
weary  hearts,  but  they  all  return  again  to  their  own 
eternal  ocean-home,  the  "pleroma  (Col.  ii.  9 ;  comp. 
John  i.  16 ;  Col.  i.  19)  or  fullness  of  divine  nature. 
This  leads  to  the  eleventh  verse,  which  stands  in 
closest  connection  with  the  tenth  and  contains  the 
doctrine  of  the — 

I.  Prothesis  or  Purpose  of  God. 

According  to  the  eternal  purpose  which  he  puiposed 
in   Chr'ist  Jesus  our  Lord. 

This  eleventh  verse  depends  on  the  verb  "  made 
known,"  in  verse  tenth,  and  the  meaning  is  this :  The 
manifold  wisdom  of  God  is  made  known  by  the  Church 
to  the  angels,  according  to  the  eternal  purpose  which 
he  purposed  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.  It  was  made 
known  in  the  way  and  order  which  God  preferred. 
Man  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  forming  or  the  mode 
of  executing  it. 

The  Greek  form  may  be  translated  literally  "  the 
plan  of  the  ages,"  or  the  eternal  purpose,  as  in  our 
Bible,  and  this,  notwithstanding  Macknight's  objec- 
tion, is  the  natural  and  most  obvious  rendering.  The 
plural  genitive  of  the  noun  is,  by  a  very  common  con- 
struction in  all  languages,  the  same  as  the  cognate 
adjective,  and  expresses  here  the  same  thought  as 
"  before  the  foundation  of  the  world  "  (Eph.  i.  4  ;  1  Pet. 
i.  20).  This  work  of  divine  love  in  the  person  of  the 
Gt)d-Man  was  no  subsidiary  or  after  thought  in  the 
divine  mind,  but  rather  the  great  central  one  around 
which  all  the  others  revolve.  Hence  the  "  Lamb  slain 
from  the  foundation  of  the  world."     The  purpose  was 


2J6  GKAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

made,  the  divine  plan  contained  the  necessary  pro- 
visions, and  the  falling  world  fell  into  the  arms  of 
the  slain  Lamb. 

I  cannot  help  thinking  that  they  deprive  themselves 
of  much  comfort  who  refuse  to  contemplate  the  antiq- 
uity or  eternity  of  Jehovah's  purpose  of  love.  Is  it 
not  worthy  of  God,  is  it  not  ennobling  to  man,  that 
the  Creator  should  think  of  us  so  early  ?  Is  not  the 
strength  of  an  affection  proved  by  the  length  of  its 
continuance  and  the  obstacles  which  it  surmounts? 
Why  are  those  who  seek  to  enlarge  his  love  in  one 
direction  most  anxious  to  diminish  it  in  another? 
They  admit  the  universality,  but  not  the  eternity,  of 
his  love;  and  thus  what  you  gain  on  the  one  hand 
you  lose  on  the  other. 

But,  as  I  said  before,  many  translate  "the  plan  of 
the  ages"  in  the  sense  of  a  final  cause,  and  refer  it  to 
the  Headship  of  Christ  as  its  end  (Eph.  i.  10,  21 ;  ii. 
15;  1  Cor.  iii.  22,  23;  xi.  3).  That  the  words  will 
readily  bear  this  interpretation  is  manifest,  and  the 
sense  is  noble  and  striking.  God  arranged  all  the  ages 
and  dispensations  of  the  world  in  and  for  Jesus  Christ 
his  Son  as  the  life-giving  Head  of  the  creation,  in  whom, 
like  a  centre  of  unity,  the  heavens  and  tiie  earth,  the 
visible  and  the  invisible,  the  mortal  and  the  immortal, 
should  find  their  happiness,  their  strength  and  their 
fellowship  with  God.  The  various  ages  are  but  the 
developing  of  one  great  plan  which  embraces  and 
unites  them  all.  The  various  dispensations,  such  as 
the  Adamic,  patriarchal,  Jewish  and  Christian,  are  but 
the  opening  of  the  great  book  of  life,  the  unveiling  of 
the  glorious  person  of  Emmanuel,  in  whom  and  for 
whom  (the  Greek  ev  has  this  meaning  in  such  passages 


CHAPTER  III.    VERSES  11-21.  217 

as  Matt.  vi.  7 ;  Rom.  iii.  25 ;  1  Cor.  xv.  18 ;  Eph.  iii. 
13 ;  iv.  1 ;  2  Tim.  ii.  9 ;  2  Pet.  i.  1 ;  ii.  3)  they  were 
all  ordained.  All  the  developments  of  divine  mercy, 
from  the  promise  in  paradise  unto  the  birth  of  Christ, 
are  but  parts  of  this  all-comjorehending  jjlan  of  the 
ages,  which  embraces  all  nations  and  generations,  and 
shall  be  most  gloriously  manifested  in  the  coming  and 
kingdom  of  Christ,  when  the  groaning  creation  shall 
be  at  rest  and  all  things  be  subjected  to  the  holy  will 
of  God  (Rom.  viii.  18,  23). 

The  word  prothesis^  "  plan,"  is  applied  to  the  loaves 
of  bread  arranged  in  order  before  the  Lord  by  the 
high  priest — bread  of  presentation,  or,  as  the  Hebrew 
has  it,  "bread  of  faces"  (Ex.  xxv.  30;  xxxix.  36; 
1  Kings  vii.  48 ;  2  Chron.  iv.  19 ;  comp.  Matt.  xii.  4 ; 
Luke  vi.  4) ;  called  also  presentation  of  bread  (2  Chron. 
xiii.  11;  Lev.  xxiv.  5;  Ex.  xxv.  30).  The  meaning 
is  nearly  the  same.  The  high  priest  orders  and  ar- 
ranges the  twelve  cakes  of  bread  before  the  Lord  in 
the  temple,  and  the  Lord  of  the  temple  arranges  in 
like  manner,  and  with  equal  ease,  the  various  ages  of 
the  world  for  the  coming  and  manifestation  of  his  Son 
Jesus  Christ.  God  is  the  ruler,  the  orderer,  the  pre- 
destinator,  in  his  own  world,  and  his  Son  is  the  end  of 
his  working.  The  King  makes  the  marriage-supper  for 
his  Son  (Matt.  xxii.  2).  There  is  no  chance  here. 
Eternal  wisdom  ordains  and  almighty  power  executes 
the  decrees  of  God,  and  the  final  cause  is  the  glory  of 
the  Redeemer  (Ps.  ex.). 

Some,  not  willing  to  admit  the  23re-existence  of 
Christ,  render  the  passage  thus :  "According  to  his 
eternal  purpose  which  he  accomplished  in  his  Son 
Jesus  Christ."     This  is  admissible.      (See  Matt.  xxi. 

28 


218  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

ol ;  John  vi.  38 ;  comp.  John  viii.  34 ;  2  Cor.  xi.  7  ; 
Luke  hi.  19  ;  Mark  xv.  7  ;  Rev.  xxi.  15.)  The  con- 
text, however,  renders  the  former  meaning  probable. 
It  is  concerning  the  forming,  not  the  execution,  of  the 
plan  he  is  speaking.  (See  also  Mark  iii.  6 ;  xv.  1.) 
Both  applications  of  the  word  are  realized  in  Christ. 
The  purpose  was  formed  in  him  as  the  Son  and  Medi- 
ator ;  it  was  intended  /or  him  as  the  end  or  final  cause ; 
and  it  was  accomplished  through  him  as  the  instrument 
(Col.  i.  17). 

We  come  now  to  the  twelfth  verse,  which  shows  us 
the  way  of — 

II.  Access  to  God. 

In  whom  we  have  boldness  and  access  with  confidence 
by  the  faith  of  him. 

It  is,  then,  a  fact,  brother,  that  the  way  to  God,  which 
sin  had  barred,  is  reopened  in  the  redemption  of  Jesus 
Christ.  In  him  we  have  access  to  the  holiest  of  all, 
for  the  great  offering  is  accepted  and  divine  justice 
satisfied.  It  is  a  fact  that  any  sinner,  even  the  vilest, 
may,  humbly  relying  on  the  merits  of  Christ,  approach 
the  throne  of  the  most  high  God  with  acceptance.  The 
angels  that  never  sinned  have  not  freer  access  to  God 
than  have  we  when  we  come  through  the  appointed 
Mediator.  Sin  is  removed  through  the  blood  of  the 
cross ;  heaven  is  opened  to  all  believers  by  the  Ascen- 
sion ;  and,  with  an  open  door  and  a  heart  full  of  par- 
doning mercy,  the  Father  invites  the  prodigals  to 
return. 

"  Burdened  with  a  world  of  grief, 
Burdened  with  a  sinful  load, 
Burdened  with  this  unbelief, 

Burdened  with  the  wrath  of  God, — 


CHAPTER   III.    VERSES   11-21.  219 

Come,  ye  guilty  souls  oppressed, 
Answer  to  the  Saviour's  call: 
'  Come,  and  I  will  give  you  rest ; 
Come,  and  I  will  save  you  all.' " 

(1)  Observe  what  it  cost  him  to  make  this  free 
proclamation  to  sinners.  The  violated  law  must  be 
vindicated  in  order  that  God,  in  dispensing  his  par- 
doning mercy,  might  not  be  taken  for  a  sin-indulger. 
Part  of  the  angels  and  the  whole  human  race  had 
fallen.  Indiscriminate  mercy  might  seem  to  relax  the 
law  of  holiness  and  sanction  the  sinner  in  his  course 
of  rebellion.  Hence  the  awful  sacrifice  of  his  own 
Son,  by  which  the  righteousness  of  God  was  vindi- 
cated in  the  way  of  boundless  mercy  to  mankind. 

"To  thee,  thou  bleeding  Lamb,  to  thee, 
For  pardon,  peace  and  life  we  flee ; 
The  shelter  of  thy  cross  we  claim. 
Thy  righteousness  alone  we  name ; 
Low  at  thy  feet  we  suppliant  fall, 
Our  Lord,  our  Saviour  and  our  all." 

(2)  This  access  is  hy  the  faith  of  him,  which  is  the 
same  as  the  faith  on  him  (Phil.  iii.  9 ;  Rom.  iii.  22) . 
He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  life.  Faith  is  the  medium 
by  which  we  receive  his  blessings  and  rest  upon  him 
for  salvation.  Without  faith  it  is  impossible  to  please 
God.  Faith  is  not  the  admission  into  the  mind  of  a 
certain  amount  of  truth  respecting  the  person  and  the 
work  of  the  Son  of  God,  but  a  holy,  confident,  joyful 
resting  upon  him  as  the  Mediator  and  Redeemer.  He 
loved  me  and  gave  himself  for  me,  and  the  echo  of  my 
spirit  is,  I  love  him  and  give  myself  up  to  and  for  him. 
That  is  faith.  By  this  faith  we  see  him,  hear  his  voice 
and  feel  his  presence  in  all  things.     He  is  the  resting- 


220  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

place  and  home  of  faith,  where  its  deepest  sorrows  and 
loftiest  flights  ever  lead  it,  and  where  alone  the  weary 
yet  faithful  soul  can  weep  its  fears  away  in  the  sun- 
shine of  his  love.  Seek  this  faith  from  God — for  it  is 
his  gift — and  he  will  not  send  thee  empty  away.  Be  in 
earnest  in  this  matter,  for  the  stake  is  great  and  the  time 
in  which  to  win  it  may  possibly  be  short.  Read  the 
following  passages  with  the  eye  on  God,  and  be  not 
faithless,  but  believing :  Rom.  v.  1-3  ;  Eph.  ii.  14 ;  John 
X.  9;  xiv.  6;  Heb.  x."l9;  Phil.  i.  14;  1  Thess.  iii.  3. 

(3)  In  Jesus  Christ  we  have  boldness  in  our  ap- 
proaches to  the  throne  of  grace.  The  Greek  word 
parresia  is  variously  translated.  Meyer  gives  it, 
libertatem  dicendi ;  Luther,  Freudigkeit ;  Riickhert, 
Freimidigkeit  im  Eeden  ;  Macknight,  liberty  of  speech; 
Doddridge,  freedom  of  speech  ;  the  Vulgate,  fiduciam  ; 
Beza,  libertatem ;  Castellio,  audaciam ;  Darby,  Frei- 
midigkeit ;  Kistemacker,  Vertraulichkeit ;  De  Wette, 
Zuversicht — so,  also,  Bockel ;  Van  Ess,  Freudiges 
Vertrauen ;  Harwood,  undaunted  freedom;  Martin, 
hardiesse ;  De  Sacy,  la  liber te.  The  word  is  found 
in  the  following  passages :  Mark  viii.  32 ;  John  vii.  4, 
13,  26 ;  X.  24 ;  xi.  14,  54 ;  xvi.  25,  29 ;  xviii.  20 ;  Acts 
ii.  29 ;  iv.  13,  29,  31 ;  xxviii.  31 ;  2  Cor.  iii.  12 ;  vii. 
4;  Eph.  iii.  12 ;  vi.  19;  Phil.  i.  20;  Col.  ii.  15;  1  Tim. 
iii.  13;  Philem.  8;  Heb.  iii.  6;  iv.  16;  x.  19,  35; 
1  John  ii.  28;  iii.  21;  iv.  17;  v.  14.  The  word 
parresia  is,  therefore,  found  thirty-one  times  in  the 
New  Testament ;  in  our  translation  it  is  rendered  four 
times  "  plainly  ;"  six  times,  "  openly  ;"  once,  "  freely  ;" 
once,  "plainness  of  speech;"  once,  "boldness  of  speech;" 
once,  "  bold  ;"  once,  "  boldly  ;"  eight  times,  "  boldness ;" 
five  times,  "  confidence."     In  all  the  other  translations 


CHAPTEK  III.    VERSES  11-21.  221 

there  is  about  the  same  variety.  The  first  and  sim- 
ple meaning  of  the  word  is  free  liberty  to  speak,  and 
hence  the  natural  secondary  one,  boldness,  which,  after 
all,  I  think  the  best  for  the  passage  we  are  expounding. 
The  believer  on  the  Son  of  God  may  approach  his 
heavenly  Father  with  boldness.  His  person  is  accepted 
in  the  Beloved,  and  his  humble  petitions  will  not  be 
refused ;  he  is  no  longer  the  slave,  to  tremble  before 
the  Lord  and  Judge,  but  the  son,  rejoicing  in  the  con- 
fidence of  a  Father's  love.  He  has  free  access  and  full 
liberty  to  make  his  requests  known  to  God.  The 
distinction  of  nations  is  abolished  in  the  death  of 
Christ,  and  Jews  and  Gentiles,  as  believers,  have  the 
right  to  speak  to  God.  Such  is  the  value  he  sets  on 
the  way  of  access  that  they  who  come  by  it  are  wel- 
come. Most  blessed  privilege !  Let  us  use  it.  Let 
us  abound  in  prayer,  like  Daniel,  David  and  the 
apostles  of  our  Lord. 

"  With  boldness,  therefore,  at  the  throne 
Let  us  make  all  our  sorrows  known, 
And  ask  the  aids  of  heavenly  power 
To  help  us  in  the  evil  hour." 

Dr.  Chalmers  had  a  store  of  pithy  proverbs  which 
he  used  as  household  words ;  one  of  them  was,  "  A 
man  of  prayer  is  a  man  of  power."  The  old  divines 
remark  that  Moses'  face  shone  when  he  came  down 
from  the  mount  of  prayer.  The  good  Dr.  Doddridge, 
when  under  any  provocation,  was  in  the  habit  of 
repeating  the  Lord's  Prayer  before  he  replied,  in  order 
that  his  mind  might  be  settled  and  his  words  well 
ordered.  Our  boldness  at  the  throne  of  grace  is  far 
removed  from   presumption,  and    must    necessarily  be 


222  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

based  on  and  measured  by  our  conformity  to  the  divine 
image.  The  bokiness  of  the  hypocrite,  like  his  hope, 
shall  perish ;  but  when  there  is  real  earnestness  of 
soul  and  a  thirsting  after  God,  there  seems  to  be  no 
limit  to  the  nearness  and  fellowship  and  holy  boldness 
which  he  may  and  can  vouchsafe  to  his  saints. 

But  we  come  now  to  the  thirteenth  verse,  which  con- 
tains the  principle  of — 

III.  Acceptable  Suffering. 

Wherefore  I  desire  that  ye  faint  not  at  my  tribula- 
tions for  you,  ivhich  is  your  glory. 

The  tvherefore  is,  in  this  connection,  very  important, 
and  carries  us  into  the  divine  purpose :  Seeing,  then, 
that  we  are  parts  of  the  great  plan  of  God  for  the 
glorifying  of  his  Son,  we  should  bear  one  another's 
burdens :  wherefore  I  desire  that  ye  faint  not,  etc. 
This  clause  may  be  translated,  "  Therefore  I  pray  that 
I  may  not  faint  under  my  afflictions  for  you ;"  and  so 
it  is  in  the  Syriac,  Bengel,  Semler,  Scholz  and  others, 
but  there  are  weighty  reasons  against  it.  (1)  The  sup- 
plying of  you  is  justified  by  2  Cor.  v.  20 ;  vi.  1  ;  x.  2 ; 
Heb.  xiii.  19.  (2)  It  is  more  like  the  noble,  self- 
denying  spirit  of  Paul  to  suppose  that  his  mind  was 
occupied  with  their  state  rather  than  his  own.  (3)  The 
great  mass  of  translators  and  expositors  have  so  under- 
stood it,  and  the  objections  of  Riickhert  and  Meyer  to 
the  use  of  the  Greek  en  in  the  sense  of  "  at,"  "  concern- 
ing" (see  2  Cor.  ii.  17;  Eph.  iii.  6;  Col.  i.  27,  etc.), 
are  of  no  moment.  The  meaning,  then,  is  this :  Ye 
are  engaged  in  the  great  battle  which  our  Captain  is 
waging  against  the  powers  of  darkness  ;  I,  your  leader 
under  him,  am  cast  into  prison  and  can  guide  you  no 


CHAPTER  III.    VERSES   11-21.  223 

more ;  but  stand  fast,  and  faint  not  in  the  conflict  [so 
Beza]  like  cowards  and  traitors ;  yield  not  a  foot  to 
the  foe  on  account  of  my  afflictions,  which  are,  indeed, 
your  glory. 

From  this  we  draw  the  following  conclusions : 

(1)  It  is  a  fact  that  we  not  only  all  suffer,  but  that 
we  all  suffer  with  and  for  one  another.  Suftering  is, 
since  the  entrance  of  sin,  the  law  of  our  race,  and 
suffering  for  one  another  is  the  consequence  of  the 
unity  of  the  race.  We  were  created  in  one,  and  head- 
ship has  been,  and  is,  the  great  characteristic  of  the 
providence  of  God  toward  man  from  the  beginning. 
He  created,  he  redeemed,  he  blesses  and  he  curses  the 
many  in  the  one.  This  unity  of  the  human  race  lays 
the  foundation  for  atonement,  which  realizes  in  grace 
what  is  seen  every  day  in  nature — the  innoce7it  suffer- 
ing for  the  guilty. 

(2)  Paul  often,  as  here,  boasts  in  his  sufferings  and 
glories  in  the  firmness  of  faith  which  trium])hs  over 
them  (2  Cor.  vi.  4,  10;  Rom.  viii:  35),  and  Peter 
teaches  us  to  distinguish  between  suffering  for  our  own 
faults  and  suffering  for  the  sake  of  Jesus  Christ  (1  Pet. 
ii.  20).  We  must  suffer,  inasmuch  as  we  have  sinned. 
We  may  bring  upon  ourselves  much  unnecessary  suffer- 
ing by  our  own  imprudence  and  sins,  and  a.s  witness- 
bearers  for  the  Lord  we  may  be  called  upon,  without 
any  fault  of  our  own,  to  bear  reproach  and  contumely, 
and  death  itself,  for  the  sake  of  our  divine  Master. 
This  is  the  suffering  which  glorifies  God ;  this  is  the 
suffering  in  which  Paul  gloried  and  out  of  which 
so  many  martyrs  have  won  their  heavenly  crowns 
(1  Pet,  V.  4).  We  do  not  our  own  will,  but  the  will 
of  God ;    bear  not  our   own    cross,  but   the   cross   of 


224  GRAHAM  ON  EPHESIANS. 

Christ ;  the  repro  ichcs  of  them  that  reproach  him  fall 
upon  us  (Ps.  Ixix.  9  ;  Rom.  xv..3).  We  suffer  not  for 
our  own  faults,  but  for  righteousness'  sake,  like  the 
apostles  and  the  martyrs,  and  in  so  doing  we  have 
reason  to  glory,  for  the  Scrij^ture  assures  us  that  if  we 
share  his  cross  we  shall  also  share  his  crown ;  if  we 
suffer  with  him,  we  shall  also  reign  with  him ;  if  we  be 
witnesses  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  we  shall  also  be 
partakers  of  the  glory  that  shall  be  revealed  (1  Pet.  v. 
1 ;  2  Tim.  ii.  12;" Rom.  viii.  17;  1  Pet.  iv.  13).  Yes, 
and  when  we  have  labored  and  suffered  patiently  to 
the  last  hour  of  our  life,  and  laid  down  at  his  feet  all 
that  we  have  to  give,  even  the  unreserved  heart,  we 
can  only  lament  that  we  have  nothing  better  to  give. 

"  Were  the  whole  reahn  of  nature  mine, 
That  were  an  offering  far  too  small : 
Love  so  amazing,  so  divine, 
Demands  my  heart,  my  life,  my  all." 

There  remains  to  be  considered  in  this  verse  only  the 
phrase  which  is  your  glory.  What  was  their  glory? 
Beza  refers  the  which  to  Paul's  not  fainting  in  the 
battle,  but  this  has  many  difficulties  and  gives  a  weak 
conclusion.  The  relative  must  in  sense  refer  to  Paul's 
afflictions,  however  it  may  be  attracted  grammatically 
to  the  following  explanatory  noun.  This  construction 
is  found  in  the  classics  and  is  common  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament (Mark  xv.  16 ;  Gal.  iii.  K) ;  Eph.  i.  14 ;  1  Tim. 
iii.  15;  Phil.  i.  28).  The  other  construction  is  used 
in  Eph.  i.  23 ;  vi.  17 ;  1  Cor.  iv.  17.  But  what  does 
the  sentence  mean,  "  My  afflictions  are  your  glory  "  ? 
It  means.  You  have  no  need  to  be  ashamed  of  my 
bonds ;  my  dungeon  is  more  honorable  than  a  palace ; 


CHAPTER    III.     VERSES   11-21.  22o 

I  suffer  for  the  name  of  Christ  in  extending  the  gospel 
to  you  Gentiles  as  freely  as  to  the  Jews.  I  am  suffer- 
ing, not  because  I  am  an  evil-doer,  but  because  I  obey 
God.  It  is  not  my  glory  only,  but  yours.  You  show 
the  advantages  of  it  by  being  brought  to  the  fold  of  the 
Saviour.  Thus  we  see  that  the  Christian  heart  is  not 
selfish,  and  Paul's  was  overflowing  with  love  and  phil- 
anthropy. Indeed,  where  there  is  love  in  this  world 
there  must  be  sorrow ;  and  sorrow,  on  the  other  hand, 
looses  the  chords  of  love  that  it  may  swell  out  to  its 
own  proper  dimensions  in  the  i-enewed  soul.  We  met 
our  Lord,  and  his  beauty  dravys  us  after  him ;  and 
hence  the  origin  of  the  Church's  persecutions.  It  was 
that  meeting  on  the  way  to  Damascus  which  pierced 
the  soul  of  the  apostle  and  made  him  count  all  things 
but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ, 
which  brought  him  into  trials  and  sorrows  of  all  kinds 
— into  strange  lands  and  perilous  seas,  into  a  life  of 
misery  and  a  death  of  shame,  and  finally  into  his 
Father's  house  in  heaven. 

IV.   The  Doctrlne  of  Prayer. 

For  this  cause  I  how  my  knees  unto  the  Father  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  (ver.  14). 

The  phrase  for  this  cause  has  been  referred  to  the 
first  verse,  to  the  eighth  and  to  the  whole  passage. 
There  is,  however,  no  necessity  for  making  difficulties 
and  seeking  out  remote  antecedents  when  the  precedino 
verse  affords  the  following  connection :  I  am  afraid  of 
your  fainting,  and  for  this  cause  I  pray  for  you.  To 
"  bow  the  knees  "  is  the  sign  of  adoration,  and  the  phrase 
is  used  with  the  dative  of  the  person  and  the  accusative  of 
the  thing  (Rom.  xi.4  ;  xiv.  11) ;  is,  however,  followed  by 

29 


226  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

in  ("at")  (Phil.  ii.  10),  and  in  our  tex^,  by  unto,  with  an 
accusative  of  the  person  instead  of  the  dative  with- 
out any  preposition.  The  same  variety  of  form,  both 
with  and  without  prepositions,  is  found  also  in  the 
Hebrew.  (See  1  Kings  xix.  18 ;  Isa.  xlv.  23 ;  Ps. 
xxii.  30 ;  Ixxii.  9.) 

This  bowing  of  the  knee,  says  Calvin,  "A  sigrio  rem 
denotat,''  expresses  the  thing  by  a  sign,  and  Chrysostom 
says,  "  It  manifested  the  fervent  desire  of  the  apostle." 
It  is,  indeed,  the  most  solemn  form  of  divine  worship 
and  well  suited  the  prisoner  in  Rome,  who  could  see  in 
the  Creator  of  the  universe  the  Father  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  Tischendorf  and  others  reject  the  words 
"  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  and  read  the  passage  thus : 
"  For  this  cause  I  bow  my  knees  unto  the  Father,  of 
whom  the  whole  family  in  heaven  and  earth  is  named." 
But  the  mass  of  authorities  seem  to  be  in  favor  of  the 
words  (De  Wette),  and  one  cannot  see  any  good  reason 
for  adding  them  had  they  not  been  in  the  original  text; 
nor  does  the  addition  bring  out  any  new  doctrine,  for 
most  certainly  the  whole  Scripture  represents  God  as 
the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Here,  then,  the 
apostle  consoles  himself  in  his  prison  by  appealing  to 
the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  not  Father  only, 
but  the  Father  of  the  incarnate  Son,  who  loved  us  and 
died  for  our  sins.  This  name  un"tes  them  both  in  the 
faith  and  the  love  of  the  apostle :  the  Sender  and  the 
sent  One,  the  Giver  and  the  Gift,  are  alike  in  the 
heart  of  tlie  faithful  servant.  (See  Rom.  xv.  6 ; 
2  Cor.  i.  3 ;  Col.  i.  3,  where  the  same  name  or  style 
is  used.) 

Having  thus  analyzed  the  passage,  let  us  now  consider 
the  subject  contained  in  it — prayer. 


CHAPTER   III.     VERSES   11-21.  227 

First.  What  is  p7'aye7'  f 

It  is  the  cry  of  weakness  to  Him  that  can  save ;  tlie 
sigh  of  distracted  hearts  to  Him  who  can  relieve  them. 
It  is  ve^y  natural  to  pray.  The  weak,  the  miserable, 
the  wretched,  the  ignorant  and  the  sinful  turn  their 
eyes  to  God,  the  Source  of  strength  and  wisdom  and 
honor  and  glory  and  blessing.  This  is  prayer.  It  is 
the  first  and  best  sign  of  a  believing  and  gracious  state. 
"  Behold,  he  prayeth,"  was  testimony  enough  that  the 
old  murderous  heart  had  passed  or  was  passing  away. 
It  is  also  the  best  measure  of  our  progress  in  tht^ 
life  of  holiness  and  love ;  he  that  abides  in  fellowship 
with  God  is  likely  to  be  above  the  concerns  of  this 
fleeting  world.  The  saints,  martyrs  and  apostles  praye<l 
much,  and  so  must  we  if  we  follow  their  example. 

Second.  Why  is  prayer  necessary  f 

Because  we  have  so  many  wants  which  can  be  su}>- 
plied  in  no  other  way.  If  humanity  consisted  only  of 
four  lusty  limbs  and  an  omnivorous  appetite,  we  might 
feel  satisfied  without  the  ideas  of  God,  a  future  life  and 
the  salvation  o'i  the  soul.  But  it  is  not  so  ;  we  are  not 
only  material,  but  also  sjDiritual  and  immortal,  beings, 
and  the  soul,  with  its  boundless  desires  and  necessities, 
seems  satisfied  with  nothing  less  than  the  fullness  of  God. 
Prayer  opens  up  this  fullness  to  the  enlarging  spirit,  an<l 
with  ever-increasing  love  and  knowledge  and  reverence 
we  hope  in  this  way  to  approach  in  some  measure  the  Un- 
approachable, and  to  drink  more  dee^dy  from  the  foun- 
tain of  his  love.  God  commands  us  to  pray.  He  knows 
what  suits  us  best,  and  his  word  abounds  with  exhorta- 
tions and  encouragements  to  prayer.  To  the  soul  that 
knows  itself,  and  seeks  to  know  God,  prayer  is  abso- 
hitely  necessary.     The  dangers  of  our  pilgrimage,  the 


228  GEAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

attacks  of  our  spiritual  enemies,  the  seductions  of  sin, 
the  world  and  the  flesh,  show  us  the  necessity  of 
prayer,  by  which  alone  we  can  meet  and  conquer  them. 
Besides,  there  are  seasons — such  as  convictions  of  sin, 
strong  bodily  pain  and  the  agonies  of  death — when 
every  other  source  of  comfort  is  vain.  No  human  hand 
can  help  ;  He  that  created  alone  can  deliver,  and  the 
hand  that  can  help  must  reach  beyond  the  grave. 
Hence,  as  Christians,  our  life,  our  whole  life,  is  one 
moving  censer  of  holy  incense  to  God.  Our  new  birth 
was  in  prayer,  our  death  is  in  prayer,  and  all  between 
is  a  service  of  love  and  obedience  consecrated  to  God 
by  prayer  : 

"  Prayer  is  the  Christian's  vital  breath, 
The  Chi'istian's  native  air ; 
His  watcliword  at  the  gates  of  death, 
He  enters  heaven  by  prayer." 

Third.  How  should  we  pray  f 

(1)  In  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  the  Mediator  (John 
xiv.  13;  XV.  16;  xvi.  23;  Eph.  v.  20;  Heb.  xiii.  15; 
1  Pet.  ii.  5) .  His  life  is  our  example ;  his  death,  our 
redemption ;  his  righteousness,  our  refuge  in  the  day 
of  judgment.  The  doctrine  of  his  sole  mediation  is 
one  of  the  clearest  and  fullest  in  the  Bible ;  so  that  the 
many  mediators  of  modern  idolaters  are  without  ex- 
cuse. The  oneness  of  the  mediation  stands  on  the 
same  foundation  as  the  unity  of  God  (1  Tim.  ii.  5). 
There  is  no  other  mediator,  nor  any  other  name  in 
heaven  or  on  the  earth,  whereby  we  can  be  saved.  He 
is  not  the  mediating  Head  of  a  host  of  mediators, 
male  and  female,  as  the  papists  dream,  reducing  the 
lioly  gospel  to  a  system  of  human  merit  and  heathen- 


CHAPTER    III.     VERSES  11-21.  229 

ish  superstition.  Pray  in  his  name,  and  you  shall  be 
heard,  for  he  is  the  way  to  the  Father  and  the  door 
of  the  sheepfold — the  only  Advocate  and  Mediator  re- 
vealed to  us  in  the  word  of  God. 

(2)  There  should  be  a  right  preparation  for  prayer 
(Ps.  Ixvi.  18  ;  cxlv.  18  ;  Prov.  xv.  8,  29  ;  xxviii.  9  ; 
Isa.  i.  15 ;  xxix.  18  ;  lix.  2  ;  Mark  vii.  6 ;  xi.  25 ; 
John  ix.  31 ;  1  Tim.  ii.  8 ;  James  i.  6 ;  iv.  3). 

(3)  We  should  pray  fervently  (Ps.  lix.  1 7 ;  Luke  vi. 
12;  xi.  8;  xviii.  1;  Rom.  xii.  12;  Eph.  vi.  18). 

(4)  We  should  pray  frequently  (Ps.  Iv.  17 ;  Ixxxvi. 
3 ;  cxix.  164 ;  Dan.  vi.  10 ;  Luke  ii.  37  ;  xviii.  1 ;  xxi. 
36 ;  Acts  X.  2 ;  1  Thess.  iii.  10 ;  v.  17  ;  1  Tim.  v.  5 ; 
2  Tim.  i.  3;  1  Pet.  iv.  7). 

(5)  We  should  pray  without  ostentation  (Matt.  vi. 
6;  Luke  xviii.  11). 

(6)  We  should  pray  for  all  ranks,  classes  and  con- 
ditions of  men  (Eph.  vi.  18;  1  Tim.  ii.  1). 

(7)  We  should  pray  with  the  firm  assurance  that 
we  shall  be  heard  (James  i.  6 ;  Mark  xi.  24 ;  1  Tim. 
ii.  8). 

It  need  hardly  be  added  that  our  prayers  must  be 
limited  to  the  things  that  are  agreeable  to  the  will  of 
God.  His  will  is  our  rule  in  this  as  in  all  things,  and 
his  Spirit  is  promised  to  help  our  infirmities  (Rom. 
viii.  26)  and  guide  us  into  all  truth  (John  xvi.  13). 
Fourth.  What  are  the  kinds  of  prayer  f 
Our  prayers  may  be  mental,  like  Hannah's  (1  Sam. 
i.  13),  where  there  is  no  voice,  but  only  the  pour- 
ing out  of  the  heart  before  the  Lord.  Or  they 
may  be  short  ejaculatory  petitions  uttered  when  we 
find  opportunity  during  the  avocations  of  the  day  to 
keep  us  mindful  of  Him  in  whom  we  live,  move  and 


230  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

have  our  being.  Or  they  may  be  pi'ivate,  in  our  own 
chamber,  with  no  eye  to  see  us  and  no  ear  to  hear  us 
but  God's  (Dan.  yi.  10 ;  Matt.  vi.  6 ;  xiv,  23  ;  Luke  vi. 
12;  Acts  X.  9,  30).  Or  they  may  be  in  the  family, 
when  the  members  of  the  household  meet  for  the  morn- 
ing and  the  evening  sacrifice  of  prayer,  thanksgiving 
and  praise.  Or  they  may  be  in  the  social  circle — the 
prayer-meeting,  where  several  families  and  friends  meet 
for  edification,  prayer  and  praise.  Or,  finally,  they 
may  be  in  the  church,  the  public  congregation  of  the 
faithful,  where  thousands  engage  in  the  solemn  acts 
of  public  worship.  There  we  feel  ourselves  joined  to 
the  body  of  Christ,  the  whole  Church  of  the  living 
God,  in  all  ages  and  in  all  nations.  As  distinguished 
from  the  popish,  this  is  the  catholic  Church  into  which 
we  were  baptized,  in  the  fellowship  with  which  we  de- 
sire to  live  and  die.  Let  us  use  these  various  kinds 
of  prayer  as  our  circumstances  require,  "  not  forsak- 
ing the  assembling  of  ourselves  together  as  the  man- 
ner of  some  is ;  but  exhorting  one  another ;  and  so 
much  the  more  as  ye  see  the  day  approaching"  (Heb. 
X.  25). 

Fifth.  Examples  of  prayer. 

These  are  numerous  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  from 
which  we  quote  only  the  following :  Abraham's  ser- 
vant (Gen.  xxiv.  12),  Jacob  (Gen.  xxxii.  9),  Moses 
(Ex.  xxxii.  11,  31 ;  Deut.  iii.  23),  Samson  (Judg.  xvi. 
28),  Hannah  (1  Sam.  i.  10),  David  (2  Sam.  vii.  18), 
Solomon  (1  Kings  viii.  22),  Hezekiah  (2  Kings  xix. 
15),  Manasseh  (2  Chron.  xxxiii.  12),  Daniel  (Dan.  ix. 
3),  Jonah  (Jon.  ii.  1),  Habakkuk  (Hab.  iii.  1),  Asa 
(2  Chron.  xiv.  11,  12),  Jehoshaphat  (2  Chron.  xx.  6), 
Ezra  (Ezra  ix.  6),  the  Levites   (Neh.  ix.  5),  Esther 


CHAPTER   III.    VEKSES   11-21.  231 

(Esth.  iv.  16),  Amos  (Amos  vii.  2—5),  Zacharias  (Luke 
i.  13),  the  Lord's  Prayer  (Matt.  vi.  9),  that  in  his 
agony  (Matt.  xxvi.  39),  that  for  his  Church  (John 
xvii.  1,  etc.),  Cornelius  (Acts  x.  1).  These,  with  other 
similar  examples,  will  teach  us  in  what  way  we  should 
approach  the  mercy-seat  on  high. 

Sixth.  Are  there  no  examples  of  prayer  for  others  f 
Yes,  many.  Abraham  prayed  for  Abimelech  (Gen. 
XX.  17) ;  Jacob,  for  his  wife  (Gen.  xxv.  21) ;  Moses, 
for  the  people  (Ex.  xxxii.  11 ;  xxxiii.  12) ;  Moses,  for 
Miriam  (Num.  xii.  13) ;  Samuel,  for  the  people  (1  Sam. 
xii.  2,  3) ;  the  church,  for  Peter  (Acts  xii.  5) ;  Stephen, 
for  his  murderers  (Acts  vii.  60) ;  Jesus,  for  his  enemies 
(Luke  xxiii.  34) ;  the  church,  for  Paul  (Eom.  xv.  30) ; 
Paul,  for  the  Jews  (Rom.  x.  1) ;  Paul,  for  the  Church 
(2  Cor.  i.  11 ;  Eph.  i.  16 ;  vi.  18 ;  Col.  iv.  3 ;  1  Thess. 
i.  2;  2  Thess.  iii.  1 ;  Heb.  xiii.  18).  We  should  pray 
for  our  enemies  (Matt.  v.  44).  These  examples  may 
help  us  in  the  practice  of  intercessory  prayer. 

Seventh.  As  to  the  posture  of  the  body,  we  have  no 
rule  in  Holy  Scripture,  and  we  should  make  no  re- 
striction upon  Christian  liberty.  The  Germans  sit 
at  prayer,  both  in  their  families  and  in  their  churches. 
and  yet  they  take  the  Lord's  Supper  standing,  for  which 
no  authority  can  be  given.  For  private,  family  and 
social  worship  kneeling  seems  to  be  the  most  proper 
and  convenient  mode  (Eph.  iii.  14).  In  the  temple 
and  synagogue  service  the  Jews  stood  at  prayer  (1  Kings 
viii.  22),  yet  before  the  end  Solomon  knelt  (ver.  54).  Is 
there  a  distinction  to  betaken  between  jjraying  and  bless- 
ing (ver.  55)?  (Luke  xviii.  11).  The  English  kneel 
(if,  indeed,  that  bend  downward  can  so  be  called), 
the    Scotch    stand    and    the   Teutonic    nations   sit   at 


232  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

prayer.  When  the  papists  come  before  altars  and  im- 
ages for  prayer  they  kneel,  and  the  Greeks  prostrate 
themselves  on  the  earth.  The  poi^e  sits  at  the  Lord's 
Supper  to  show  that  he  can  dispense  with  the  ordi- 
nances of  God,  but  commands  his  followers  to  kneel. 
He  does  right  and  commands  you  to  do  wrong,  and 
you  must  obey  on  pain  of  damnation.  He  sits,  as 
Christ  did,  and  you  must  kneel  because  he  bids  you. 

Eighth.  In  times  of  trial,  suffering  or  public  dan- 
ger we  should  abound  in  prayer  that  the  Church  might 
be  kept  faithful,  that  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  might 
be  glorified,  and  that  the  Lord  would  be  pleased,  for 
his  Son's  sake,  to  guide  the  affairs  of  the  nations  and 
sanctify  the  dispensations  of  his  providence  to  the 
glory  of  his  name  and  the  welfare  of  his  people. 
Hence,  to  the  God  of  heaven  Paul  bowed  his  knees 
in  the  dungeons  of  Rome  and  Daniel  made  his  sup- 
plication. Suffering  leads  to  prayer,  and  hence  the 
times  of  persecution  have  been,  in  some  respects,  blessed 
times  for  the  Church. 

And  now,  O  God,  give  me,  and  all  that  fear  thy 
name,  the  spirit  of  prayer  and  supplication !  Give  us 
the  faith  that  works  by  love  and  purifies  the  heart! 
May  we  live  in  fellowship  with  thee  here,  and  finally 
obtain  thy  kingdom  and  glory  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord !     Amen. 

V.  The  Whole  Family  of  God. 

Of  whom,  the  whole  family  in  heaven  and  earth  is 
named  (ver.  15). 

The  apostle  consoles  himself  in  the  loneliness  of 
his  prison  with  the  great  [jriuciples  of  the  economy  of 
grace,  which  it  was  the  aim  of  his  life  to  proclaim  to 


CHAPTER    III.    VERSES   11-21.  233 

every  creature.  His  spirit  was  free.  The  eternal  pur- 
pose of  God  contains  in  it,  said  Paul,  many  such 
sorrows  and  disappointments  as  mine.  Still,  I  am 
not  without  great  consolations.  I  am  part  of  his  great 
plan  ;  I  have  access  to  his  throne  of  grace  through 
Christ ;  I  am  set  for  an  example  to  others,  and  I  can 
look  up  to  the  Creator  as  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  of  whom  the  whole  family  in  heaven  and  earth 
is  named. 

Who  gives  his  name  to  the  family  ?  The  fifteenth 
verse  is  ambiguous,  in  both  Greek  and  English.  To 
whom  are  we  to  refer  the  phrase  of  whom  f  The 
nearest  antecedent  is  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  to 
him  many  commentators,  as  Calvin,  Beza,  Zanchius, 
Rhenferd,  etc.,  refer  it.  In  this  case  the  meaning  will 
be  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  given  the  name 
"  Christian,"  and  all  which  the  name  covers,  to  the  one 
family  of  God.  I  am  of  opinion,  however,  that  even 
if  the  words  "our  Lord  Jesus  Christ"  should  turn  out 
to  be  genuine  (Tischendorf  rejects  them),  we  should 
refer  the  of  whom  to  the  Father,  and  that  for  the 
following  reasons :  It  is  the  Father  that  gives  the 
name  to  the  family  generally,  and  hence  the  'patria 
seems  naturally  to  refer  to  the  pater,  the  family  to  the 
father.  It  is  the  Father  to  whom  the  apostle  bows 
his  knees,  and  so  he  is  the  principal  person  in  the 
verse.  The  words  "  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ "  may 
be  omitted  and  the  sense  remain  complete.  The 
meaning  is  that  the  whole  family  is  related  to  the 
Father  by  name ;  the  heavenly  and  the  earthly  mem- 
bers have  in  this  respect  the  same  privilege.  Most 
of  the  German  commentators  take  patria  in  the  sense 
of  "  race,"   and   interpret   the   passage   thus :  "  Every 

30 


2.U  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

kind  of  created  being  derives  its  origin  out  of  God 
the  Father,  and  bears  his  name  as  Creator ;"  and 
many  can  see  no  reference  whatever  to  tlie  children 
of  God  in  the  passage  (Harless,  Riickhert,  etc.). 
But  surely  the  word  patria  naturally  means  "  family," 
and  not  "  race ;"  and  it  may  be  so  translated  in  every 
passage  where  it  occurs  in  the  New  Testament  (Luke 
ii.  4 ;  Acts  iii.  25;  Eph.  iii.  15).  Herodotus  uses  it  in 
the  same  sense  (ii.  143  ;  iii.  75).  It  is  the  beth-ab  ("  pa- 
ternal house ")  of  the  Hebrews  (Ex.  vi.  25 ;  Num.  i. 
18).  There  is,  therefore,  a  great  propriety,  so  far  as 
the  word  itself  is  concerned,  and  so  far  as  respects  its 
use  in  Scripture,  in  translating  it  by  the  word  family. 

But  we  now  come  to  the  important  question,  "  Is 
pasa  here  to  be  rendered  '  every '  or  the  whole  f 
That  the  Greek  pas,  not  followed  by  a  substantive 
with  the  article,  is  generally  taken  in  a  partitive 
sense  seems  to  be  an  understood  fact,  and  therefore 
the  simplest  and  most  natural  translation  here  would 
be  "  every  family ;"  but  when  it  is  said  that  izaaa  Karpia 
cannot  fairly  be  rendered  the  whole  family,  I  deny  the 
assertion,  and  can  show  from  the  New  Testament  many 
examples  where  it  may  be  so  translated,  and  some  where 
it  must.  (See  Matt.  xii.  31 ;  Acts  ii.  36 ;  x.  14 ;  1  Cor. 
i.  29 ;  XV.  39 ;  2  Cor.  x.  6 ;  Eph.  iv.  31 ;  v.  3,  5 ;  vi. 
18;  Phil.  i.  20;  2  Tim.  ii.  2;  and  others.)  I  hold, 
therefore,  that  the  common  English  translation,  the 
whole  family,  is  a  proper  one,  and,  the  whole  passage 
considered,  perhaps  the  best  that  can  be  given. 

Let  us  now  leave  the  dry  region  of  verbal  criticism 
and  contemplate  for  a  moment  the  whole  family  of  God. 
We  observe,  then,  that  the  family  is  one,  though  divided 
into  two  parts.     Some  have  passed  over  the  Jordan  and 


CHAPTEK  III.     VEKSES  11-21.  235 

enjoy  the  glories  of  the  New  Jerusalem  and  the  prom- 
ised land ;  they  have  conquered  and  received  their 
crown ;  they  lived  and  died  in  faith,  and  their  robes 
are  made  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  They 
know  the  reality  of  the  divine  love  which  centres  in  the 
person  of  the  Kedeemer,  on  earth  hidden,  veiled  in  the 
vestments  of  our  mortal  nature,  but  now  radiating  in 
the  splendor  of  resurrection  glory.  His  presence  fills 
all  hearts  with  joy ;  angels,  saints,  cherubim  and 
seraphim  are  around  his  throne ;  the  unfallen  and 
the  redeemed  are  alike  sharers  of  his  beneficence. 
They  are  in  the  kingdom  of  glory — no  hunger,  no 
thirst,  no  weariness,  no  weakness,  no  wants ;  no  more 
sins  to  lament  over,  no  more  temptations  to  resist,  no 
more  enemies  to  overcome.  There  is  no  more  death, 
and  sorrow  and  sighing  have  fled  away.  The  long- 
alienated  are  now  reconciled ;  the  long-divided  have 
at  last  met  in  their  Father's  house.  This  is  heaven, 
and  this  is  the  believer's  home.  But  we  are  still  in  the 
flesh.  They  are  triumphing  with  their  King,  and  we 
are  fighting  his  battles.  They  are  in  Canaan,  and  we 
are  in  the  wilderness.  We  have  the  manna,  the  guid- 
ing pillar  and  the  frail  tabernacles ;  they,  the  corn  and 
the  wine  and  the  fixed  temple  of  the  New  Jerusalem. 
We  are  following  in  their  train,  and  our  faith  is  quick- 
ened and  strengthened  by  the  cloud  of  witnesses  with 
which  we  are  surrounded. 

Stand  fast,  brother!  Do  not  yield.  Thou  art  not 
alone  in  the  fight.  Jesus  is  with  thee.  The  apostles 
and  prophets  in  heaven  are  before  thee.  The  glori- 
ous army  of  the  martyrs  sees  thee.  The  eye  that 
met  Stephen's  in  his  trials  is  upon  thee.  And  oh, 
consider  the  reward !     Life,  purity,  holiness,  the  fellow- 


236  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

ship  of  eternal  love,  the  presence  of  the  Son  of  God, 
unutterable  nearness  to  God  himself,  enlarged  and 
perpetually  increasing  knowledge, — these  are  before 
thee ;  and  are  they  not  worth  struggling  for  ?  Perish 
the  sins  that  would  deprive  me  of  this  hope,  be  they 
the  dearest,  sweetest,  that  ever  deceived  man !  Shall 
I  listen  to  the  world  or  heed  its  siren  voice,  when  Jesus 
calls  me  to  follow  him?  Shall  I  hesitate  between  a 
few  years  and  eternity?  Shall  I  yield  to  influences 
which  must  degrade  me  rather  than  to  the  hopes  that 
can  make  me  a  man,  a  conqueror  and  an  heir  of  heav- 
en? Never!  By  God's  help  I  will  take  my  lot  with  the 
saints  and  follow  the  Lamb  whithersoever  he  goeth. 

Take  the  following  notes  as  to  the  members  of  this 
family. 

(1)  They  are  all  one.  They  have  one  God  and 
Father,  one  Lord  and  Saviour,  one  faith,  one  baptism 
and  one  hope  of  their  calling.  They  have  all  the  same 
enemies,  the  same  friends,  the  same  temptations  and  the 
same  joys.  They  all  enter  the  family  in  the  same  way, 
and  they  all  enjoy  the  same  everlasting  inheritance. 

(2)  There  are  great  varieties  in  the  family.  Some 
are  in  heaven,  and  others  upon  the  earth;  some  are 
militant,  and  others  are  triumphant;  some  are  weak, 
and  others  are  strong  in  faith,  giving  glory  to  God. 
All  are  soldiers  of  \  the  cross,  but  there  is  a  great 
difference  between  raw  recruits  and  accomplished  war- 
riors— those  who  are  entering  upon  and  those  who 
are  triumphing  over  the  difiiculties  of  the  campaign. 
The  varieties  of  different  ages,  nations,  political  and 
ecclesiastical  names  and  institutions,  have  tinged  their 
character  with  many  hues,  but  the  head  and  the  heart, 
fJae  faith,  hope  and  charity,  are  all  the  same. 


CHAPTER   III.     VERSES   11-21.  237 

(3)  They  have  many  names  and  many  symbols  which 
express  something  of  their  nature  and  office.  They  are 
the  elect,  chosen  in  Christ  before  the  foundation  of 
the  world;  they  are  tlie  redeemed  Church,  washed  in 
his  blood  from  all  defilement ;  they  are  believers,  con- 
verts, new  creatures,  with  a  new  name  upon  them,  a 
new  heart  within  them,  a  new  heaven  above  them  and 
a  new  earth  beneath  their  feet.  All  things  are  become 
new.  They  are  his  people,  his  fold,  his  bride,  his 
temple,  his  house,  the  trees  of  his  j^lanting,  the  work 
of  his  hands  that  he  may  be  glorified.  He  is  the 
Head,  and  they  are  the  body ;  he  is  the  Vine,  and 
they  are  the  branches ;  he  is  the  Foundation,  and 
they  are  the  living  stones.  All  this  is  expressive  of  the 
nature  of  the  family  and  their  relations  to  the  Saviour. 

But  let  us  now  consider — 

VI.   The  Contents  of  the  Apostle's  Prayer. 

That  he  would  grant  you,  according  to  the  riches  of 
his  glory,  to  be  strengthened  with  might  by  his  Spirit  in 
the  inner  man ;  that  Christ  may  dwell  in  your  hearts 
by  faith ;  that  ye,  being  rooted  and  grounded  in  love, 
may  be  able  to  comprehend  with  all  saints  what  is  the 
breadth,  and  length,  and  depth,  and  height;  and  to 
know  the  love  of  Christ,  which  passeth  knmvledge,  that 
ye  might  be  filled  ivith  all  the  fullness  of  God  (ver. 
16-19). 

The  first  thing  he  prays  for  is  strength — that  they 
should  "  be  strengthened  with  might  by  his  Spirit  in  the 
inner  man^  (See  in  the  Septuagint,  2  Sam.  x.  12  ;  2 
Chron.  xxi.  4 ;  2  Kings  xv.  19 ;  and  in  our  translation. 
Col.  i.  11.) 

We  need  strength ;  we  have  in  ourselves  no  power  to 


238  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

resisi  the  current  of  evil  in  the  world.  We  need  to  be 
mightily  strengthened  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
— his  own  Spirit,  the  Comforter.  (Comp.  Eph.  vi.  10 
and  Col.  i.  11.)  Paul  would  have  the  Ephesians  s^roTi^^, 
and  his  first  petition  is  to  that  eftect ;  and  it  may  well 
teach  us  where  the  source  of  our  victories  is  to  be  found. 
Jehovah  is  the  strength  of  his  people,  and,  like  every 
other  gift,  his  power  to  help  is  ministered  unto  the 
saints  and  registered  in  their  hearts  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 
He  dwells  in  us ;  the  Church  is  his  sanctuary  and  his 
throne.  The  Father  is  enthroned  in  heaven,  and  Jesus 
is  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  the 
Comforter,  the  life  and  the  giver  of  life,  dwells  in,  quick- 
ens and  sanctifies  the  redeemed  Church  of  Christ. 

This  heavenly  strength  is  for,  or  in  reference  to  (e^c), 
the  inner  man.  It  is  no  physical  or  material  force  by 
which  the  Church  is  to  smite  down  tyrants  and  per- 
secutors. On  the  contrary,  all  history  teaches  that  in 
proportion  as  the  Church  acquires  worldly  succor  and 
political  greatness  she  loses  this  sin-resisting,  victorious 
power  of  God  in  the  inner  man.  This  inner  man  is 
opposed  to  the  outward  man  (2  Cor.  iv.  16),  to  the  old 
man  (Rom.  vi.  6;  Eph.  iv.  22;  Col.  iii.  9),  to  the  body 
of  this  death  (Rom.  vii.  24),  to  the  law  of  sin  in 
the  members  (Rom.  vii.  23),  and  to  the  carnal  mind 
(Rom.  viii.  6).  It  is  not  the  mind,  nous,  mens,  but  the 
law  of  the  mind.  It  is  not  the  soul  as  distinguished 
from  the  body,  nor  the  reasonable  faculties  as  distin- 
guished from  the  sensual  and  emotional,  but  the  spir- 
itual nature,  the  new  life,  the  new  heart  which  grace 
gives  ;  the  new  man,  the  new  creature  which  the  Spirit 
of  God  creates  in  us  to  resist  and  conquer  the  old. 
This  is  the  warfare  which  sin  introduced  into  the  world. 


CHAPTER  III.     VERSES  11  21.  239 

This  explains  the  two  souls  which  Socrates  said  were 
within  him.  The  Platonists  used  similar  language  (see 
Fritsche  on  E-om.  vii.  23,  Meyer,  Riickhert,  etc.)  ;  and, 
I  may  add,  similar  language  must  be  used  wherever  and 
so  long  as  the  mixed  nature  of  man  continues.  There 
is  always,  and  there  must  be,  the  inward  struggle — 
more  or  less  earnest,  indeed,  as  God  is  more  or  less 
clearly  revealed ;  and  therefore  to  say,  as  many  Ger- 
mans do,  that  Paul  proceeds  on  Platonic  principles,  is 
unnecessary  ;  and  with  Riickhert  we  may  call  it  "  eine 
ungereimte  Behauptung'^  ("an  absurd  assertion").  This 
warfare  is  the  very  root  and  ground  of  our  present  state 
of  being,  and  gives  form  and  substance  to  the  whole 
plan  of  redemption — gives,  also,  occasion  for  and  direc- 
tion to  our  prayers.  No  sin,  and  there  could  be  no 
sacrifice ;  no  fall,  no  redemption ;  no  warfare  in  the 
soul,  in  society,  in  the  world,  and  there  could  be  no 
peace  through  the  blood  of  the  cross. 

But  Paul  prays  for  strength  in  the  inner  man,  not 
according  to  his  or  their  wishes,  but  according  to  the 
riches  of  the  Father^ s  glory.  This  is  the  ocean  from 
which  the  soul  draws  her  supplies.  "  Glory  "  [doxa] 
is  the  highest  form  of  expression  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment for  the  pomp,  splendor  and  majesty  of  the  heav- 
enly King  (Matt.  xix.  28 ;  xxiv.  30 ;  Luke  ix.  26 ;  xxi. 
27;  Tit.  ii.  13),  for  the  ineffable,  unapproachable  bril- 
liancy in  which  Jehovah  dwells  (the  Shekinah  of  the 
Rabbins)  (2  Thess.  i.  9 ;  2  Pet.  i.  17 ;  Rev.  xv.  8 ;  xxi. 
11) ;  it  is  the  Cabod  of  the  Hebrews,  the  Megd  of  the 
Arabs,  the  Herrlichkeit  of  the  Germans — in  fact,  the 
highest  delineation  of  the  character  of  God  known 
to  man,  his  glory.  This  is  the  fountain  from  which  the 
believer  draws  his  strength.     His  glory,  the  riches  of 


240  GEAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

his  glory,  are  at  your  service,  O  reader,  to  give  you 
courage  in  the  hour  of  triaL  Be  not  afraid  of  sin, 
death  or  the  devil,  the  persecutions  of  Antichrist  and 
all  the  hosts  of  hell.  The  riches  of  the  glory  of  God 
are  your  strength.  Sing  a  verse  of  the  immortal  strain 
of  Luther  which  roused  Germany  against  the  pope 
and  shook  the  heresiarch  upon  his  throne : 

"  Ein'  feste  Burg  ist  unser  Gott, 
Eiii  Gute  Wehr  und  Waffeii; 
Er  hilft  uns  frei  aus  aller  Noth 
Die  uns  jetzt  hat  betroffen." 

Or  if  you  are  unable  for  this  flight  of  faith,  then  I 
know  nothing  among  human  compositions  better  than 
the  immortal  ode  of  Horace  on  the  "  Virtuous  Man  " 
(iii.  3).  One  thing  is  certain — ^that  if  you  only  trust 
him  God  has  made  provision  for  your  triumph  over 
all  the  trials  which  can  possibly  overtake  you ;  not,  in- 
deed, a  worldly  kind  of  victory,  but  strength  in  the 
inner  man  to  make  you  nobly  live,  and,  if  need  be, 
heroically  die,  for  the  cause  of  God  and  righteous- 
ness. 

(2)  Then  he  prays  for  the  indwelling  of  Christ  (ver. 
17),  which  (notwithstanding  the  objections  of  Meyer)  I 
take  to  be  something  different  from  the  strengthening 
through  the  Spirit.  The  prayer  is  that  Christ  may 
dwell  in  your  hearts  by  faith.  The  faithful,  believing 
heart  is,  according  to  Scripture,  the  temple  of  God,  or 
lather  all  believers  together  are  the  temple,  and  indi- 
vidually considered  they  are  the  living  stones.  He  built, 
ornamented  and  will  be  worshiped  in  it.  It  is  this  iden 
which  is  wrought  out  with  such  subtility  and  beauty  in 
Howe's    Living   Temple,  one  of  the  deepest   and  most 


CHAPTER    III.    VERSES   11-21.  241 

masterly  pieces  of  theology  in  the  world.  He  is  the 
foundation-stone  upbearing,  the  corner-stone  uniting 
and  the  top-stone  completing  this  living  temple  of  God, 
As  Son  of  God,  he  is  the  foundation-stone ;  as  Son  of 
man,  the  highest  of  the  finite,  he  is  the  top-stone ;  and 
as  the  God-Man,  he  is  the  corner-stone  which  unites  all 
together.  (On  this  indwelling  in  the  heart  as  in  a 
temple,  see  Eph.  ii.  21,  22;  John  xiv.  23.) 

The  Greek  construction  in  our  text  is  the  same  as 
James  iv.  5  ;  Col.  ii.  9 ;  and  the  phrase  in  your  hearts 
seems  to  take  for  granted  that  the  opposition  to  the  in- 
dwelling Lord  is  to  be  found  in  the  will.  "  Ye  tvill  not 
come  unto  me,  that  ye  might  have  life,"  says  Christ ; 
"  Because  I  have  called,  and  ye  have  refused,  therefore 
I  will  laugh  at  your  calamity,  and  mock  when  your  fear 
cometh ;"  "The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,  There  is  no 
God."  Hence  the  Lord  makes  his  people  willing  in 
the  day  of  his  jwwer  (Ps.  ex.).  Christ's  throne  is  in 
the  heart ;  he  reigns  Lord  of  the  affections,  and  lift'< 
over  its  troubled  waters  his  peaceful  hand.  His  rule 
is  the  dominion  of  love,  and  the  rod  of  his  power  the 
golden  sceptre  of  mercy.  Jehovah  dwelt  in  the  temple 
of  Jerusalem,  and  Jesus,  the  Lord  and  Head  of  his 
Church,  dwells  in  the  temple  of  redeemed  and  sanc- 
tified humanity. 

The  apostle  adds,  in  our  text,  the  important  words 
through  faith.  He  dwells  in  the  heart  through  faith. 
This  is  the  creature-side  of  the  subject.  Ye  are  not 
stocks  or  stones,  but  living,  reasonable  men,  and  there- 
fore ye  have  something  to  do  in  the  matter.  The  tem- 
ple must  voluntarily  receive  its  Lord ;  otherwise,  he 
cannot,  and  will  not,  enter.  Except  ye  believe,  ye 
shall  not  be  established.     He  who  believeth  not  the 

31 


242  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

testimony  of  God  can  never  belong  to  the  living  tem- 
ple. He  is  without  the  fold,  and  knows  nothing  of 
the  good  Shepherd's  love.  Without  faith  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  please  God  (Heb.  xi.  6).  Nor  does  the  work  of 
Jesus  Christ  in  our  nature  ensure  the  salvation  of  any 
but  believers ;  yea,  it  rather  darkens  their  prospects 
and  deepens  their  condemnation  (Heb.  x.  29).  Be- 
lieve, then,  brother,  believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  thou  shalt  be  saved.  In  the  act  of  believing  you 
receive  the  Saviour,  and  the  power  and  the  fullness 
of  his  presence  in  your  soul  are  in  proportion  to  your 
faith. 

(3)  But  this  prayer  of  the  apostle  includes  also 
knowledge:  '"''That  ye,  being  rooted  and  grounded  in 
love,  may  be  able  to  comprehend  with  all  saints  what  is 
the  breadth,  and  length,  and  depth,  and  height;  and  to 
know  the  love  of  Christ,  ivhich  passeth  knowledge,  that 
ye  might  be  filled  with  all  the  fullness  of  GodT  There 
is  knowledge  for  you !  That  is  a  prayer  which  no 
uninspired  man  could  have  originated.  Let  us  for 
a  moment  contemplate  its  principal  points.  Beza, 
Luther  and  Macknight  put  "and"  before  this  clause 
of  the  seventeenth  verse,  but  the  sense  is  good  with- 
out it,  and  reverence  for  the  holy  word  should  keep 
us  from  either  adding  to  or  taking  away  from  it. 

The  being  rooted  and  grounded  in  love  is  a  beauti- 
ful and  sul)lime  thought,  uniting  the  ideas  of  vine  and 
temple,  and  thereby,  notwithstanding  the  dictum  of 
the  satirist  (Horace,  Ars  Poetica,4),  enhancing  the 
grandeur  of  the  conception.  Love — the  eternal  love 
of  God  to  man — is  the  foundation  on  which  the  tem- 
ple rests  and  the  deep  subsoil  out  of  which  the  vine 
grows.     This  is  your  safety.     Rest  on  the  foundation. 


CHAPTER    III.    VERSES   11-21.  24:3 

abide  in  the  Vine,  for  only  in  so  doing  are  you  sale 
(John  XV.  6).  The  connection  between  being  rooted 
and  grounded  in  love  and  the  capacity  of  comprehend- 
ing the  love  of  Christ  is  clear  and  beautiful,  though 
De  Wette  cannot  easily  see  it ;  indeed,  it  is  not  easy 
for  a  Rationalist  or  a  Unitarian  to  understand  any- 
thing about  the  love  of  Christ.  Nevertheless,  it  seems 
reasonable  that  being  near  Christ,  that  remaining  in 
the  Vine  and  trusting  on  the  Rock  of  Ages,  that  hav- 
ing daily,  hourly  fellowship  with  him,  that  bearing 
his  cross,  leaning  on  his  hand  and  dr'.nking  from  the 
fountains  of  his  grace,  might  help  us  not  a  little  in  the 
comprehension  of  his  love.  He  that  loves  can  com- 
prehend love ;  he  that  bears  the  cross  can  explain  the 
mortification  of  the  flesh ;  and  be  assured  that  the 
more  firmly  our  faith  rests  on  him  and  the  more  deep- 
ly we  grow  into  the  living  Vine,  the  more  fully  shall 
we  be  able  to  comprehend  the  dimensions  of  his  love. 
From  the  depths  you  will  rise  to  the  heights ;  from 
the  purpose  of  the  Father  and  the  work  of  the  Son 
and  the  Spirit,  to  the  inheritance,  the  crown  and  the 
everlasting  glory. 

With  all  saints  gives  us  the  idea  of  the  entire  Church  ; 
there  is  no  special  reference  to  either  apostles  or  angels. 
The  meaning  is,  You  belong  to  the  saints  of  God,  and 
one  of  their  privileges  is  to  comprehend  the  love  of 
Christ ;  you  stand  not  alone  in  the  battle ;  before,  be- 
hind and  all  around  you  are  the  saints ;  and  my  prayer 
is  that,  like  them  and  in  company  with  them,  you  may 
be  able  to  comjirehend  what  is  the  breadth  and  length 
and  depth  and  height  of  the  love  of  Christ.  Perhaps 
the  apostle  had  in  his  mind  the  sublime  delineation  of 
Job  (xi.  8)  as  he  uttered  these  burning  words.     They 


244  GEAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

refer,  not  to  the  temple  of  the  Church  (though  possibly 
suggested  by  it),  but  to  the  immeasurable  love  of  Christ. 
There  apj)ears  to  be  something  more  in  the  word 
"  know "  than  in  comprehend.  He  j)rays  that  they 
may  comprehend  the  love  of  Christ,  and  then,  as  some- 
thing better  and  higher,  that  they  may  know  it.  This 
refers  to  the  saving,  experimental  knowledge  of  Christ 
in  the  soul  of  which  the  Scripture  speaks  so  often.  It 
is  eternal  life  to  know  the  Father  and  the  Son  (John 
xiv.),  and  the  operations  of  the  Father  and  the  Spirit 
are  to  reveal  the  glories  of  the  Son  (Ps.  ex. ;  Gal.  i. 
16).  To  know  the  real  character  and  love  of  Christ 
is  salvation.*  They  that  know  thy  name  shall  put 
their  trust  in  thee.  It  is  impossible  to  know  God,  or 
tlie  love  of  God,  in  the  person  of  his  Son,  without  loving 
him.  The  j)hrase  love  of  Christ  means  the  love  which 
Christ  bears  to  us,  not  the  love  which  we  bear  to  him, 
and  therefore  Luther's  Christum  lieb  haben  is  false. 
(Comp.  Gal.  ii.  20;  Horn.  v.  6.)  Jerome  seems  to 
make  the  genitive  governed  by  the  substantive  instead 
of  by  the  adjective,  which  brings  out  no  adequate  con- 
clusion to  the  apostle's  sentence :  That  ye  might  know 
the  supereminent  love  of  tlie  knowledge  of  Christ.  No  ; 
it  is  a  love  that  passes  knowledge.  Some  have  found 
inconsistency  and  contradiction  in  these  words.  Mis- 
erable critics,  and  more  miserable  criticism !  The 
apostle  Paul,  who  for  the  sake  of  his  Master  suffered 
the  loss  of  all  things,  does  not  choose  to  speak  of  the 
person,  cross,  love  and  life  of  his  Redeemer  as  German 
philologists  speak  of  a  particle  or  geologists  of  a  prim- 
itive rock.     His  soul  is  lifted  upon  the  wings  of  faith 

*  Dr.  Carson  has  written  a  noble  little  work  called  The  Knowledge  of 
Jesus  the  Best  of  the  Sciences. 


CIIAPTEU    HI.     VERSES  11-21.  245 

and  hope  and  his  heart  is  overflowing  with  love.  He 
has  tasted  that  the  Lord  is  gracious,  and  would  lead 
you  to  fathom  the  unfathomable,  to  measure  the  bound- 
less, to  know  and  comprehend  the  incomprehensible, 
love  of  Christ.  He  would  dwell  on  the  same  won- 
drous theme,  leaving  little  critics  and  faultfinders  to 
their  cold  and  uninteresting  occupation. 

"  Thou  hidden  love  of  God— whose  height, 
Whose  depth  unfathom'd,  no  man  knows — 

I  see  from  far  thy  beauteous  light, 
And  inly  sigh  for  thy  repose. 

My  heart  is  pained,  nor  can  it  be 

At  rest  till  it  find  rest  in  thee." 

(4)  This  most  ancient  and  cleaving  love  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  confounds  all  our  reasonings,  works  in 
new,  strange  ways  and  produces  unheard-of  results. 
It  jDasses  knowledge  that  he  could  stoop  so  low  and 
that  he  could  raise  us  so  high.  The  tremendous  sacri- 
fice of  the  cross  surpasses  all  human  comprehension, 
while,  at  the  same  time,  it  throws  floods  of  light  on 
the  character  of  God,  the  nature  of  sin  and  the  value 
of  the  human  soul.  If  you  are  amazed  at  the  humil- 
iation of  the  Son  of  God,  be  equally  amazed  at  the 
exaltation  of  the  Son  of  man.  Your  nature,  brother- 
man,  is  on  the  throne  of  the  Creator  in  heaven,  and 
you,  as  a  believer,  are  promised  a  share  in  the  king- 
dom of  his  glory  (Matt.  xix.  28;  Luke  xxii.  30;  1  Cor. 
vi.  2;  2  Tim.  ii.  12;  Rev.  ii.  26,  27;  iii.  21).  We 
shall  be  with  him,  we  shall  be  eternally  in  him,  we 
shall  be  like  him  in  his  resurrection  glory  and  majesty 
(Phil.  iii.  21 ;  1  Cor.  XV.  43 ;  CoL  iii.  4 ;  1  John  iii.  2). 
This  is  indeed  a  great  hope,  and  may  well  swallow  up 
all  our  earthly  cares. 


246  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

Then,  again,  there  was  nothing  in  us  to  attract  his 
love.  We  were  sinners,  and  the  law  cried  for  vengeance ; 
the  sword  of  justice  was  made  bare  to  smite ;  Satan, 
the  adversary,  roared  for  his  prey  ;  and  death  deemed 
his  dominion  universal  and  everlasting, — when,  lo ! 
the  pardoning  love  of  Christ  overflowed  our  world, 
and  all  the  devices  of  the  enemy  are  confounded. 
He  loved  us  because  he  loved  us,  and  this  passeth 
knowledge. 

The  mode,  too,  in  which  he  manifested  his  love 
j)asses  knowledge.  The  union  of  the  divine  and  human 
natures,  the  mysterious  bloody  sacrifice  of  the  cross, 
the  constitution  and  offices  of  the  Mediator,  exhibit, 
a.s  Bishop  Sanderson  beautifully  expresses  it,  "such  a 
height  and  depth  and  length  and  breadth  in  every 
part  as  naught  but  an  infinite  understanding  can 
fathom.  So  God  loved  the  world,  but  how  much  that 
so  containeth  no  tongue  can  tell  or  wit  of  man  can 
reach.  It  is  a  love  incomprehensible.  It  swalloweth 
up  the  sense  and  understanding  of  men  and  angels ; 
fitter  to  be  admired  and  adored  in  silence  than  blem- 
ished with  any  of  our  weak  expressions." 

(5)  Then  the  conclusion  of  the  prayer  is  remark- 
able:  "That  ye  might  be  filled  with  all  tJie  fullness  of 
God."  Pleroma,  or  "  fullness,"  is  here  the  essential 
word,  and  it  requires  our  diligent  consideration.  The 
fullness  of  the  Gentiles  (Rom.  xi.  25)  is  the  multitude 
or  complement  of  the  heathen  nations ;  the  Church, 
of  which  Jesus  is  the  Head,  is  the  pleroma  or  fullness 
of  Him  that  filleth  all  in  all  (Eph.  i.  23) ;  and  the  full- 
ness of  God  denotes  the  attributes,  majesty  and  glory 
which  make  up  the  completeness  and  blessedness  of  his 
nature.     Believers  are  to  be  filled  with  (sfc ;  "  with " 


CHAPTER    III.     VERSES   11-21.  247 

admissible,  Rom.  xvi.  6 ;  Acts  xix.  3 ;  2  Pet.  i.  17)  all 
the  fullness  of  (iocl — "  mit  allerlei  Gottesfulle,'^  as 
Luther  has  it ;  or  rather  to  or  unto  the  entire  fullness 
of  God,  as  De  Wette  has  it — '"'  zur  yanzen  F'ldle  Gottes  ;" 
viz.,  filled  up  until  our  character  corresponds  with  his, 
ever  approaching  to,  yet  ever  at  infinite  distances  from, 
the  infinite,  ineffable  God.  It  is  the  same,  I  take  it,  as 
*'  the  grace  for  grace  "  of  John  i.  16,  which  we  receive 
out  of  the  fullness  of  Christ.  The  ere,  "  unto,"  shows 
the  end  and  purpose  of  God  in  our  glorification.  The 
divine  image  is  the  terminus  to  which  we  shall  be  for 
ever  approaching,  and  which  shall  yet  stand  for  ever 
infinitely  beyond  and  above  all  created  glory  and 
perfection ;  there  will  still  remain  room  for  the  prayer 
"  that  ye  may  be  filled  unto  all  the  fullness  of  God." 
Filled  with  his  endless  love,  pervaded  with  the  resur- 
rection life  of  Christ,  unutterable  communion  with 
God,  members  of  the  glorified  Mediator  and  nearest 
to  the  heavenly  throne  (Rev.  v.),  there  shall  yet 
remain  above  and  beneath  and  around  us  endless 
heights  and  depths  in  the  fullness  of  God  which  it 
shall  be  our  business  in  eternity  to  explore.  All  is 
in  progress,  and  all  tending  to  perfection.  One  only 
remains  the  same — God,  the  lioly,  the  perfect,  the 
immutable  God,  around  whom  the  vast  all  revolves, 
to  whom  it  all  approaches. 

The  soul  loses  itself  in  these  thoughts.  The  heart 
cannot  endure  such  all-comprehending  vastness,  and 
must  take  refuge  in  the  divine  assurance  "that  we 
shall  be  like  him,  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is."  We 
share  the  fullness  of  his  grace  as  the  pledge  that  we 
shall  share  t  e  fullness  of  his  glory;  perfect  likeness 
to  the  burden-bearing  Lamb  here,  and  perfect  likeness 


^48  GKAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

to  the  sceptre-bearing  Lord  hereafter,  is  the  highest 
perfection  of  which  our  nature  is  capable ;  it  is  to  be 
filled  with  all  the  fullness  of  God. 

VII.  The  Doxology. 

Now  unto  him  that  is  able  to  do  exceeding  abundantly 
above  all  that  we  ask  or  think,  accordijig  to  the  power 
that  ivorketh  in  us,  unto  him  be  glory  in  the  Church  by 
Christ  Jesus  throughout  all  ages,  world  without  end. 
Ame7i  (ver.  20,  21). 

The  doxology  is  directed  to  him  that  is  able  to  do 
exceeding  abundantly  above  all  that  we  ask — viz.,  God; 
God  the  Father,  who,  through  Jesus  Christ  the 
Mediator,  is  to  be  glorified  and  adored  by  the  whole 
creation.  Paul  is  fond  of  doxologies,  and  uses  them 
often  both  in  the  end  and  in  the  middle  of  his  dis- 
course. (See  Rom.  xvi.  25  ;  Phil.  iv.  20 ;  Jude  24, 
25;  1  Tim.  i.  17;  vi.  16.)  These  are  ascriptions  of 
praise  and  honor  offered  up  to  God,  or  to  God  the 
Father,  or  to  God  through  Jesus  the  Mediator  (see 
Heb.  xiii.  21 ;  Eph.  iii.  21 ;  comp.  Col.  iii.  17 ;  Rom. 
vii.  25),  or  to  Christ  directly  (Rev.  i.  6;  2  Tim.  iv.  18; 
Rev.  V.  12).  The  angel  host  on  the  occasion  of  the 
birth  of  Jesus  Christ,  at  Bethlehem,  broke  out  into 
the  sublime  doxology  (Luke  ii.  14),  "Glory  to  God 
in  the  highest,  and  on  earth  peace,  good-will  toward 
men ;"  and  when  the  redemption-work  is  completed 
and  the  ransomed  are  gathered  home,  their  sublime 
anthems  around  the  throne  will  be  to  Him  that  loved 
them  and  washed  them  from  their  sins  in  his  own 
blood  (Rev.  v.  9-12)  : 

"'Worthy  the  Lamb  that  died,'  they  cry, 
'To  be  exalted  thus;' 


CHAPTER   in.    VERSES  11-21.  249 

'Worthy  the  Lamb,'  our  hearts  rej^ly, 
'  For  he  was  slain  for  us.' " 

It  is  not  so  much  prayer  as  solemn  adoration  and 
praise ;  it  is  like  the  bursting  forth  of  a  stream  too 
strong  for  its  banks  ;  the  full  heart  overflows  in  these 
holy  gushes  of  pious  feeling  and  praise  to  God.  I  do 
not  like  the  practice  brought  into  every-day  life,  as  it 
tends  to  make  the  great  name  of  God  too  familiar ;  nor 
ought  we  to  abominate  anything  more  than  the  popish 
practice  of  appealing  to  Mary,  the  saints  and  the  an- 
gels of  God.  This  is  flat,  stupid  idolatry,  for  which 
there  is  no  warrant  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  We  offer 
up  our  doxologies  in  the  firm  faith  and  assurance  that 
he  is  able  and  willing  to  do  more  than  we  can  ask  or 
think  (Rom.  iv.  21 ;  1  Thess.  v.  24).  He  is  God,  and 
can — he  is  our  Father,  and  will — fulfill  our  desires  and 
supply  all  our  need  according  to  his  riches  in  glory  by 
Christ  Jesus. 

The  language  of  this  noble  doxology  is  exceedingly 
emphatic  in  the  English  translation,  and  still  more  so. 
in  the  Greek;  so  that  critics  have  been  confounded 
by  the  apostle's  efforts  to  express  the  j^ower  of  God 
in  the  way  of  a  magnificent  pleonasm,  thus :  God  is 
able  to  do  what  we  ask;  he  is  able  to  do  what  we 
think;  he  is  able  to  do  more  than  we  can  ask  or  think; 
he  is  able  to  do  abundantly  more  than  we  can  ask  or 
think;  he  is  able  to  do  exceeding  abundantly  more 
than  we  can  ask  or  think.*  All  this  variety,  without 
doubt,  has  its  meaning  and  is  surely  intended  to  give 
the  saints  full  confidence  in  the  divine  assistance  and 
strength.     He  would  have  us  to  rest  in  his  love.     He 

*  On  the  Greek  construction  I  recommend  Greenfield's  critical  note 
on  the  passage  as  the  best  and  clearest  I  have  seen. 
32 


250  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

would  banish  from  our  minds  the  fear  which  hath 
torment,  and  fill  us  with  an  assurance  of  his  presence 
and  power  which  no  earthly  trials  can  shake.  There- 
fore this  sublime  pleonasm. 

All  this  is  according  to  the  power  which  worketh  i7i 
lis — viz.,  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit  (Eph.  i. 
19;  iii.  16),  by  which  we  are  raised  to  a  new  life  and 
made  conquerors  over  our  spiritual  enemies,  which  is  the 
pledge  and  assurance  that  he  can  and  will  do  exceed- 
ing abundantly  above  all  we  can  ask  or  think.  Thus 
the  believer  has  within  him  an  inworking,  flesh-cruci- 
fying power  of  God,  even  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  power 
of  the  Highest  (Luke  i.  35),  whose  presence  in  the 
Church  is  the  assurance  and  proof  that  the  Head  is 
risen,  and  that  all  the  promises  shall  in  due  time  be 
accomplished.  The  enlargement  of  the  Church,  the 
overthrow  of  Antichrist,  the  binding  of  Satan,  the 
advent  of  the  Son  of  man,  the  millennial  kingdom  and 
glory,  shall  all  be  accomplished  by  the  power  of  God ; 
nor  will  this  require  anything  more  than  a  develop- 
ment of  the  immortal  powers  which  reside  in  the 
present  Church.  The  beginning  is  already  made, 
and  the  end  will  surely  come. 

Unto  him  be  glory  in  the  Church  by  Christ  Jesus 
throughout  all  ages,  world  without  end.  Amen  (ver.  21). 
This  is  the  most  common,  and  perhaps  the  best,  trans- 
lation. The  Greek  text  will  bear  without  violence  the 
following  translations,  which  the  reader  may  choose 
from  as  he  pleases :  "To  him  be  glory  in  the  Church 
in  Christ  Jesus,"  and  this  is  quite  literal ;  "  To  him 
be  glory  in  the  Church  through  Christ  Jesus;"  "To 
him  be  glory  in  the  Church  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus ;" 
"  To  him  be  glory  by  the  Church  for  Christ  Jesus." 


CHAPTER   III.     VERSES   11-21.  251 

That  the  Greek  ev,  "  in,"  often  signifies  the  same  as  oca, 
"  through  "  (with  a  genitive) ,  is  proved  by  Matt.  ix.  34 
Acts  iv.  9 ;  1   Cor.  xv.  22 ;  Gal.  iii.  8 ;  Acts  iii.  25 
Heb.   i.   1 ;  1  John  v.   11.      I  take  it  in   this  sense 
"  Glory    be    to    God    in    the    Church    through    Jesus 
Christ."     The  place  of  his  glory  is  the  Church,  and 
the   person    through   whom    he    receives    it  is  Christ, 
and   the   time   it   continues    is    throughout   all    ages, 
world  without  end. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

I  therefore,  the  prisoner  of  the  Lord,  beseech  you  that  ye  walk  worthy 
of  the  vocation  wherewith  ye  are  called,  with  all  lowliness  and  meek- 
ness, with  long-suffering,  forbearing  one  another  in  love ;  endeavoring 
to  keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace.  There  is  one  body, 
and  one  Spirit,  even  as  ye  are  called  in  one  hope  of  your  calling ;  one 
Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  one  God  and  Father  of  all,  who  is  above 
all,  and  through  all,  and  in  you  all.  But  unto  every  one  of  us  is  given 
grace  according  to  the  measure  of  the  gift  of  Christ.  Wherefore  he 
saith.  When  he  ascended  up  on  high,  he  led  captivity  captive,  and  gave 
gifts  unto  men.  (Now  that  he  ascended,  what  is  it  but  that  he  also  de- 
scended first  into  the  lower  parts  of  the  earth?  He  that  descended  is 
the  same  also  that  ascended  up  far  above  all  heavens,  that  he  might  fill 
all  things.)  And  he  gave  some,  apostles;  and  some,  prophets;  and 
some,  evangelists;  and  some,  pastors  and  teachers;  for  the  perfecting 
of  the  saints,  for  the  work  of  the  ministry,  for  the  edifying  of  the  body 
of  Christ :  till  we  all  come  in  the  unity  of  the  faith,  and  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  Son  of  God,  unto  a  perfect  man,  unto  the  measure  of  the 
stature  of  the  fullness  of  Christ:  that  we  henceforth  be  no  more  children, 
tossed  to  and  fro,  and  carried  about  with  every  wind  of  doctrine,  by  the 
sleight  of  men,  and  cunning  craftiness,  whereby  they  lie  in  wait  to  de- 
ceive; but  speaking  the  truth  in  love,  may  grow  up  into  him  in  all 
things,  which  is  the  head,  even  Christ:  from  whom  the  whole  body 
fitly  joined  together  and  compacted  by  that  which  every  joint  sup- 
plieth,  according  to  the  effectual  working  in  the  measure  of  every 
part,  maketh  increase  of  the  body  unto  the  edifying  of  itself  in  love. 
— Ephesians  iv.  1-16. 

This  chapter  commences  the  more  practical  part  of 
the  Epistle,  and  with  great  tact  leads  us  from  the  doc- 
trines to  the  duties — not,  indeed,  as  if  the  division  be- 
tween doctrinal  and  practical  was  marked  and  distinct, 
so  that  only  doctrines  could  be  found  here  and  only  du- 
ties there.     This  is  never  the  case  in  the  writings  of  the 

262 


CHAPTEK   IV.    VERSES  1-16.  253 

New  Testament,  and  in  this,  as  in  all  things,  we  may 
easily  trace  the  wisdom  of  God.  We  do  not  find,  as  in 
confessions  of  faith  and  articles  of  religion,  one  chapter 
on  God,  and  another  on  the  state  of  man ;  one  on  the 
Trinity,  and  another  on  the  divine  unity ;  one  on  faith, 
and  another  on  works,  etc.  In  the  Bible  doctrine  is 
never  separated  from  life,  faith  from  practice.  The 
divine  motives  are  always  made  the  ground  on  which 
the  believer's  holy  living  rests.  Thus  the  incarnation 
of  the  Son  of  God  is  the  motive  and  example  of  hu- 
mility (Phil.  ii.  5-8)  ;  his  exaltation  is  the  motive  to 
heavenly-mindedness  (Col.  iii.  1-6)  ;  his  coming  in 
glory  is  the  motive  to  prayer,  watchfulness  and  many 
other  Christian  duties  (1  Pet.  iv.  1-8,  13 ;  2  Pet.  i.  11  ; 
iii.  10)  ;  and  so  we  may  say  of  all  the  doctrines  of  the 
gospel.  They  occur  in  the  Scriptures  where  they  are 
required  for  the  comfort,  warning  or  encouragement  of 
the  saints.  Nevertheless,  the  latter  parts  of  Paul's 
Epistles  are  generally  the  more  practical,  and  the 
former  the  more  doctrinal. 

This  gives  force  to  the  therefore  of  the  first  verse : 
Seeing  that  such  is  the  glorious  purpose  of  God  in 
the  saints  (iii.  10,  11),  and  that  such  are  the  immeas- 
urable dimensions  of  his  love  (iii.  17,  18),  therefore  I, 
the  prisoner  in  the  Lord,  beseech  you  that  ye  walk 
worthy  of  the  vocation  wherewith  you  are  called. 

Many  connect  the  words  In  the  Lord  with  beseech, 
and  translate  thus :  "  I,  the  prisoner,  beseech  you  in  the 
Lord,"  and  refer  to  1  Thess.  iv.  1  and  Eph.  iv.  17  as 
examples  of  similar  construction  ;  but  the  great  majority 
of  interpreters  connect  prisoner  with  iri  the  Lord,  as 
our  translation  does,  and  as  its  position  in  the  text 
seems  to  require.      Thus  we  have   the   brother   in    the 


254  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

Lord  (Phil.  i.  14),  a  man  in  Christ  (2  Cor.  xii.  2),  fel- 
low-servant in  the  Lord  (Col.  iv.  7),  and  many  other 
similar  expressions  in  the  New  Testament.  (See  1 
Thess.  V.  12 ;  Eph.  v.  8.)  In  the  Lord  is  connected 
with  verbs  in  the  following  passages :  Rom.  xvi.  2,  22 ; 
1  Cor.  i.  31  ;  vii.  39 ;  Eph.  iv.  17  ;  vi.  1 ;  Phil.  ii.  19  ; 
iii.  1;  Col.  iii.  18;  iv.  17;  1  Thess.  iii.  9 ;  iv.  1 ;  2 
Thess.  iii.  4. 

What,- then,  is  the  meaning  of  the  phrase  "prisoner 
in  the  Lord  "  ?  Our  translators  take  it  in  the  sense  of  a 
genitive,  and  render  it  the  'prisoner  of  the  Lord.  Bloom- 
field  says  en  is  put  for  the  Greek  dia,  "  through,"  with 
a  genitive,  in  this  signification,  in  the  cause  of :  I  am  a 
prisoner  in  the  Lord's  cause  ;  but  that  great  author  only 
gives  us  examples  where  dla,  "  through,"  with  a  gen- 
itive, signifies  in  the  cause  of  On  the  contrary,  most 
interpreters,  from  Chrysostom  to  the  present  time,  take 
it  in  the  sense  of  dia  with  an  accusative,  in  the  sense  / 
am  a  prisoner  for  the  Lord's  sake  ;  and  those  who  take 
in  the  Lord  for  a  genitive  connect  it  with  beseech,  thus : 
"  I,  the  prisoner,  beseech  you  by  the  Lord,"  etc.  I  con- 
fess I  can,  in  this  passage,  see  no  difference  between 
in  the  Lord  and  for  the  Lordh  sake  (De  Wette  thinks 
he  does),  or  I  may  add  the  genitive,  of  the  Lord.  In 
Greek,  as  in  English,  the  three  forms  are  essentially  the 
same:  I  am,  the  prisoner  in  the  Lord,  I  am,  the  prisoner 
of  the  Lord  and  /  am  a  prisoner  for  the  Lords  sake. 
The  meaning  in  all  cases  is  this  :  I  suffer  as  a  Christian, 
and  not  as  a  man ;  I  am  imprisoned  for  declaring  the 
truth  of  Christ,  and  not  for  any  crime  against  the  laws 
of  my  country.  Hence,  the  fine  Greek  phrase  for 
Christians  is  ''those  in  Christ  "  (Gal.  i.  22;  2  Cor.  xii. 
2;  1  Pet.  V.  14;  and  others).     I  believe,  indeed,  that 


CHAPTEK    IV.     VERSES   1-16.  255 

the  phrase  in  the  Lord  has  often  a  far  deej^er  meaning 
than  either  through  the  Lord  or  for  the  Lord's  sake 
(Winer,  Gram.  333),  and  therefore  the  life  in  God  is 
much  more  than  the  life  for  God  ;  but  I  do  not  admit 
the  conclusion  of  some  grammarians  that  the  Greek  en 
with  a  dative  has  never  the  sense  of  dia  with  either  a 
genitive  or  an  accusative. 

From  all  this,  then,  we  understand  something  of 
the  deep'  signification  of  being  in  Christ  or  walking 
in  Christ  or  living  in  God — of  being  branches  of  the 
Vine,  stones  of  the  Temple  and  having  our  life  hid- 
den with  Christ  in  God  (Col.  iii.  1-6).  These  all 
denote  union  with  him  by  faith  and  relate  to  the 
oneness  which  grace  has  effected  between  the  believ- 
ing soul  and  God.  This  living,  indissoluble  union  is 
more  necessary,  and  also  more  apparent,  in  times  of 
persecution,  when  the  Church,  like  Paul,  is  called  upon 
to  follow  her  Lord  to  the  prison,  the  inquisition  or  the 
stake.  Then  it  is  a  great  matter  to  be  not  merely  the 
prisoner,  but  the  prisoner  of  the  Lord.  This  is  the 
ground  of  Paul's  exhortation  :  I  am  the  Lord's  apos- 
tle, called  by  himself,  proved  by  suffering,  by  patience, 
by  signs  and  wonders  (2  Cor.  xii.  12;  Rom.  xv.  19), 
and  now  his  prisoner ;  and  so,  as  such,  I  exhort  you  to 
walk  worthy  of  the  vocation  wherewith  you  are  called. 

Let  us  now  take  up  the  different  parts  of  this  apos- 
tolic exhortation,  giving  a  word  or  two  upon  each. 

I.  The  Vocation  or  Calling. 
/  beseech  you  that  ye  walk  worthy  of  the  vocation 
wherewith  ye  are  called,  with  all  lowliness  and  meek- 
ness,  with    long-suffering,  forbearing    one    another   in 
love  (ver.  1,  2). 


256  GEAHAM    ON    E?1£ESIANS. 

What  is  the  klesis,  "  vocation"  or  "  calling,"  of  wliicli 
the  Scripture  speaks  so  often?  Take  the  folloAving 
hints : 

It  is  the  calling  of  God  (liom.  xi.  29 ;  Phil.  iii.  14 ; 
comp.  2  Thess.  i.  11 ;  2  Tim.  i.  9 ;  Heb.  iii.  1 ;  2  Pet. 
i.  10;  Eph.  i.  18),  because  it  is  God  himself  who  calls 
us  from  darkness  to  light,  and  from  the  kingdom  of 
Satan  into  the  kingdom  of  his  dear  Son.  It  is  a  high 
calling  (Phil.  iii.  14),  for  the  prize  attached  to  it  is  eter- 
nal life.  It  is  a  holy  calling  (2  Tim.  i.  9),  because  the 
end  and  purpose  of  it  (at  least  on  earth)  is  holiness — 
viz.,  the  restoration  of  the  image  of  God  in  the  soul. 
It  is  a  heavenly  calling  (Heb.  iii.  1),  for  it  comes  from 
and  draws  us  to  heaven. 

The  hope  of  our  calling  (Eph.  iv.  4)  is  the  hope 
which  those  called  by  God  to  serve  him  may  cherish. 
It  belongs  to  the  brethren  alone  and  proceeds  entirely 
from  God  (1  Cor.  i.  26).  This  is  what  our  fathers 
termed  effectual  calling,  an  1  it  occupies  a  prominent 
place  in  all  our  systems  of  the  dogy.  The  doctrine  is 
based  upon  or  takes  for  granted  the  following  princi- 
ples:  (1)  That  the  human  race  is  fallen  and  needs  to 
be  restored  to  God ;  (2)  That  even  tJiis  fallen  and  re- 
deemed race  cannot  of  itself  return  to  God,  but  needs 
the  assistance  of  a  divine  call;  (o)  That  the  election  and 
the  calling  are  coextensive ;  (4)  That  therefore  the  sal- 
vation of  the  Church  is,  in  its  origin,  means  and  end, 
to  be  ascribed  to  the  pure  and  sovereign  will  of  God. 

Our  walk  should  be  worthy  of  this  vocation.  There 
ought  to  be  some  relation  between  our  conduct  and  our 
hopes,  between  our  character  and  the  promised  reward. 
If  his  love  has  opened  u[)  to  us  glorious  and  immor- 
tal hopes,  should  not  our  service  correspond  to  them  ? 


CHAPTER    IV.     VERSES   1-16.  257 

Worthy  of  bis  calling  ?  It  is  a  great,  high,  noble  prin- 
ciple. It  is  a  rule  of  life  which  lifts  us  from  the  dust 
and  gives  us  the  position,  hopes  and  fears  of  immor- 
tal creatures.  The  devout  old  dreamer  states,  in  his 
Grace  Abounding,  that  often  after  his  conversion  be 
found  it  as  difficult  to  draw  his  heart  and  affections 
from  heaven  and  heavenly  things  as  formerly  it  was 
to  get  them  there.  If  we  can  judge  of  Rutherford  by 
his  letters,  we  may  believe  that,  in  prison  or  out  of  it, 
his  heart  was  in  constant  fellowship  with  God,  his  life 
hidden  with  Christ  in  God.  Dr.  Dwight  says  there  is 
no  limit  to  the  attainments  in  the  divine  life ;  so  that 
we  may  be  always  pressing  onward  and  upward  in  our 
approaches  to  God.  To  have  a  great  and  noble  aim  is 
a  guarantee  against  mean  and  dishonorable  conduct, 
and  certainly  the  first  requisite  of  holy  living  is  the 
high  and  controlling  hoj^e  of  our  calling.  We  are  his, 
we  live  in  him,  we  are  going  to  him,  we  shall  see  him 
as  he  is  and  be  like  liim  in  his  glory.  These  hopes 
fill  and  satisfy  the  soul,  while  they  guide  our  efforts 
into  the  honorable  paths  of  holiness  and  virtue.  The 
Orientals  say,  "  The  servant  of  a  king  is  a  king,"  to 
express  the  idea  that  greatness  is  expansive ;  and  the 
Scripture  assures  us  that  by  beholding  the  Son  of  God 
we  are  changed  into  his  image  from  glory  to  glory 
(2  Cor.  iii.  18 ;  1  John  iii.  3,  4).* 

*  The  genitive  of  attraction  in  the  ahove  verse  is  resolved  variously 
by  philologists.  De  Wette  says  it  is  put  for  the  accusative,  and  Winer 
for  the  dative  [Oram.  |24).  On  this  remarkable  principle  of  construc- 
tion, see  the  following  passages:  Luke  ii.  20  ;  John  ii.  22;  Acts  iii.  21, 
25;  X.  39;  vii.  17;  xx.  10;  James  ii.  5 ;  1  Pet.  iv.  11  :  John  xv.  20; 
xxi.  10 ;  Luke  v.  9 ;  Eph.  ii.  5  ;  Matt,  xviii.  19 ;  2  Cor.  i.  4 ;  Tit.  iii.  6 ; 
Rev.  xviii.  5,  6.  (Comp.  the  Septuagint,  Zech.  iii.  11.)  For  the  his- 
tory of  the  principle  of  attraction  and  its  occurrence  in  classical  au- 
thors, see  Buttmann,  Bernhardy,  Winer  and  Stuart. 


258  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

Observe,  now,  how  the  apostle  defines  this  worthy- 
walk  according  to  our  calling :  "  With  all  lowliness  and 
meekness,  with  long-svffering ,  forbearing  one  another 
in  love.""  Loidiness  is  the  same  as  "lowliness  of  mind" 
(Phil.  ii.  3)  ;  "  humbleness  of  mind "  (Col.  iii.  12)  ; 
"  humility "  (1  Pet.  v.  5 ;  Col.  ii.  18,  28) ;  in  a  bad 
sense,  "humility  of  mind"  (Acts  xx.  19).  It  is 
opposed  to  "  vainglory  "  (Phil.  ii.  3 ;  comp.  Gal.  v.  26) 
and  "the  minding  high  things"  (Rom.  xii.  16).  The 
word,  therefore,  denotes  the  Christian  duty  of  thinking 
modestly  of  ourselves,  whatever  be  our  character,  gifts 
or  attainments,  and  it  is  applied  only  to  men  or  to  sin- 
ners (I  mean  the  Greek  word),  and  never  to  God  or  to 
Christ,  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Sleekness  is  no  attri- 
bute of  God ;  the  word  is  only  once  applied  to  Christ 
(2  Cor.  X.  1),  and  in  all  other  cases  to  men  (1  Cor. 
iv.  21;  Gal.  V.  23;  vi.  1;  Eph.  iv.  2 ;  Col.  iii.  12;  1  Tim. 
vi.  11 ;  2  Tim.  ii.  25  ;  Tit.  iii.  2).  Meekness  shows  the 
mode  of  a  Christian's  walk,  whether  in  suifering  or  in 
active  service  for  Christ.  This  is  the  kind,  gentle, 
loving  spirit  which  seeks  to  do  difficult  duties  and 
rough  work  without  giving  offence,  which  bears  all  and 
suffers  all  like  a  lamb,  without  reproaches  or  murmur- 
ings.  It  is  easily  distinguished  from  loivliness,  as  well 
as  from  the  following  long-suffering.  This  latter  attri- 
bute refers  to  the  noble  position  of  a  person  who  has 
just  cause  for  anger,  but  is  not  angry.  It  approaches 
forgiveness,  but  yet  is  quite  distinct.  God  is  long-suf- 
fering to  the  world ;  he  forgives  only  the  believer  on 
his  Bon.  He  is  long-suffering  (Rom.  ii.  4 ;  ix.  22 ; 
1  Pet.  iii.  20).  So  is  applied  the  Hebrew  phrase 
"long  of  countenance"  (Prov.  xxv.  15;  Jer.  xv.  15). 
God   bears  with   his  sinful   creatures    in   the  way  of 


CHAPTER    IV.     VERSES   1-16.  259 

long-imffering  love,  and  thereby  gives  them  time  for 
repentance.  So,  says  Paul,  ye  should  walk  worthy 
of  his  calling  in  this  respect  also.  Be  like  God  in 
your  long-suffering,  and  treat  your  fellow-creatures 
as  he  treats  you. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  judge  of  our  standing  as  Chris- 
tians by  these  characteristics.  Have  you  proud  thoughts 
of  yourself?  Are  you  wounding  the  spirit  of  meekness 
in  your  daily  life?  Are  you  wrathful,  hasty,  proud, 
overbearing  ?  Then  either  you  have  never  been  called 
'  f  God  or  you  are  walking  unworthy  of  your  vocation. 

II.  The  Unity  of  the  Spirit. 
We  come  now  to  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  (ver.  3), 
w^hich  we  are  endeavoring  to  keep.  This  is  the  unity 
which  the  Holy  Spirit  works  in  the  members  of  Christ. 
He  draws  them  all  to  the  cross  as  their  centre,  and  while 
they  behold  the  divine  Sufferer  he  softens  their  hearts 
into  streams  of  tender  love  and  fills  them  all  with  the 
same  unquenchable  desire  to  forsake  all  and  follow  him. 
The  whole  inner  man  is  revolutionized,  the  whole  heart 
touched  and  conquered,  and  a  sublime,  overpowering, 
new  affection  has  laid  an  arrest  upon  all  the  processes 
of  the  soul's  evil  conditions.  There  is  unity  of  aim, 
there  is  unity  of  object,  there  is  unity  in  self-sacri- 
Scing  love : 

"  Were  the  whole  realm  of  nature  mine, 
That  were  an  offering  far  too  small : 
Love  so  amazing,  so  divine, 

Demands  my  heart,  my  life,  my  all." 

This  unity  of  the  Spirit  is  not,  as  some  think,  the 
unity  of  the  Church,  for  that  comes  afterward,  under 


260  GRAHAM  ON   EPHESIANS. 

the  one  body ;  nor  is  it  the  unity  of  the  person  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  It  is  rather  the  oneness  of  heart  and 
feeling  which  the  Spirit  works  in  all  believers,  what- 
ever be  their  position,  color  or  country.  The  Holy 
Ghost  is  the  common  Spirit  of  the  Father  and  the  Son, 
possessed  by  both,  sent  by  both  and  bearing  witness  to 
both  (John  xiv.  16,  26;  xv.  26;  xvi.  7,  14).  Thus  the 
Father  and  the  Son  are  one,  for  they  possess  a  com- 
mon spirit ;  and  in  the  same  manner  many  persons 
on  earth  may  be  one  when  they  all  possass  the  same 
spirit.  This  explains  the  solemn  prayer  of  Christ 
(John  xvii.  21)  :  "  That  they  all  may  be  one,  as  thou. 
Father,  art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  all  may  be 
one  in  us." 

We  are  to  keep  this  unity  in  the  bond  of  peace. 
Bengel  says :  "  Vinculum,  quo  pax  retinetur,  est  ipse 
amor''^  ("The  bond  of  peace  is  love").  It  may  be  so, 
but  many  commentators  take  the  bond  of  peace  to  be 
peace  itself,  as  the  means  of  preserving  unity.  We 
should  imbibe  a  peaceful,  conciliating  spirit,  and  this 
will  be  the  best  means  of  promoting  and  extending 
unity.  As  much  as  in  you  lies,  live  peaceably  with 
all  men.  Jesus  is  the  Prince  of  peace  ;  his  kingdom  is 
a  kingdom  of  righteousness  and  peace  and  joy  in  the 
Holy  Ghost,  He  came  and  preached  peace ;  his  life 
was  the  example  of  peace ;  his  death  was  the  seal  of 
peace ;  he  is  our  peace  ;  his  birth  gave  us  the  song  of 
peace ;  on  Olivet  he  gave  us  the  legacy  of  peace ;  and 
his  ascension  to  the  right  hand  of  God  is  the  proof 
that  peace  is  concluded  between  God  and  man.  Avoid 
all  divisions  and  sectarian  feelings ;  keep  the  unity  of 
the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace.  The  other  view, 
which  makes  love  the  bond  of  peace,   is  clearer,  and 


CHAPTER    IV.    VERSES   1-16.  261 

seems  to  be  supported  by  Col.  iii.  14,  where  love  is 
said  to  be  the  bond  of  perfectness.  It  is  no  doubt  al- 
lowable, however,  with  Luther,  De  Wette,  Campbell 
and  others,  to  translate  "  through  the  bond  of  peace," 
which  has  the  great  advantage  of  being  unambiguous. 
On  the  whole,  the  two  interpretations  nearly  meet,  for 
the  quiet,  peaceable  spirit  which  binds  all  together 
(Ovid,  Met.  i.  25 ;  see  Greenfield  and  Wetstein)  is  not 
very  different  from  the  charity  which  edifieth  (1  Cor. 
viii.  1)  or  the  love  which  covers  a  multitude  of  sins. 

III.  There  is  One  Body. 
Body  is  no  doubt  used  here  as  the  proper  designation 
for  the  Church  of  Christ,  which  is  spiritually  as  much 
one  as  is  the  human  body  naturally:  the  members  are 
many,  the  body  is  one  (Rom.  xii.  5).  (See  1  Cor.  x. 
17  ;  xii.  13,  27  ;  Eph.  i.  23 ;  ii.  16 ;  Col.  ii.  17.)  So 
the  Church  is  compared  to  the  vine,  the  bride,  the 
temple,  the  garden,  the  house,  etc.,  all  denoting  the 
various  relations  between  Jesus  and  his  Church,  and  all 
containing  the  great  idea  of  unity.  She  requires  the 
care  of  the  Husbandman ;  he  must  plant,  prune  and 
fructify  all  the  various  members ;  and  hence  the  rela- 
tion :  "  I  am  the  vine,  and  ye  are  the  branches."  She 
is  the  bride,  the  second  Eve  for  the  second  Adam,  taken 
out  of  his  bleeding  side  and  destined  to  share  with  him 
the  dominion  of  the  new  paradisiacal  earth  (Rev.  v. 
10;  xxi.  1,  27;  2  Pet.  iii.  13;  Isa.  Ixv.  17;  Ixvi.  22). 
He  has  taken  our  nature,  sarx,  "  flesh  "  (John  i.  14)  ; 
soma,  "  a  body  "  (Heb.  x.  5) ;  flesh  and  blood  (Heb.  ii. 
14) ;  a  soul  (Acts  ii.  27 ;  Ps.  xvi.  10)  ;  spirit,  jmeuma 
(Luke  xxiii.  46).  All  these  show  the  reality  of  the  in- 
carnation and  lay  the  foundation  for  the  expressive  sym- 


262  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

bol  of  his  Church,  "one  body."  There  is  one  body, 
the  Church,  which  is  the  fulhiess  of  Him  that  filleth  all 
in  all.  But,  you  say,  what  is  the  unity  of  this  body  ? 
I  answer.  The  Church  throughout  the  whole  world  is 
one  in  its  origin,  from  Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles ; 
one  in  holding  the  true  saving  doctrines  of  grace ;  one 
in  having  regular  ordinances  and  a  gosj)el  ministry  ; 
one  as  to  essential  inward  life,  though  very  varied  as 
to  time,  place,  circumstances  and  external  form. 
Hence  we  may  draw  the  following  conclusions : 
(1)  That  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  is  not  limited  to 
any  age  or  nation,  nor  necessarily  defined  by  any  system 
of  ritualism  or  external  form  of  government.  There  may 
})e,  and  always  have  been,  different  forms  of  organization 
in  the  various  branches  of  the  Church — some  more, 
others  less,  perfect — but  these  varieties  are  not  more 
than  may  be,  and  are,  found  in  the  members  of  the 
same  body,  while  yet  the  whole  is  pervaded  by  the 
same  life — the  very  same  immortal,  imperishable  life, 
though  often  not  in  the  same  force  and  fullness  in  all 
the  members.  Nor  does  this  exclude  corrupt  churches 
from  the  communion  of  the  faithful.  The  papacy,  or 
the  Komish  Church,  for  example,  is  not  unlike  the  body 
of  Job,  smitten  by  the  devil  with  sore  boils  from  the 
sole  of  the  foot  unto  the  crown,  and  the  manifest  duty 
of  the  pope  and  the  cardinals  is  to  take  a  potsherd  and 
scrape  themselves  and  sit  down  among  the  ashes  (Job 
ii.  7,  8).  Nor  are  the  churches  of  j-.ngland,  l^cotland 
and  Germany  without  certain  warts  and  wrinkles  which 
require  to  be  rubbed  off  in  the  j^rocess  of  purification. 
There  is  life  in  all  of  them,  and  hence  true  believers, 
saints,  martyrs  and  men  in  whom  the  apostolic  ages 
might  have  gloried  have  been  found  in  them  all.    These 


CHAPTER   IV.     VERSES   1-16.  263 

scattered  saints,  and  not  the  outward  corporations,  form 
the  true  holy  catholic  and  apostolic  Church  of  Christ 
founded  upon  the  Eoek  of  ages,  redeemed  by  the 
sacrifice  of  the  cross  and  full  of  the  hopes  of  life 
and  immortality.  This  is  the  congregation  of  faithful 
men,  the  Church  of  the  living  God,  against  which  the 
gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail,  nor  the  counsels  of  the 
ungodly  prosper. 

(2)  It  is  the  duty  of  Christians  to  cherish  the  spirit 
of  unity  and  join  together  in  the  public  exercises  of 
religion.  (See  the  following  scriptures :  Heb.  x.  25 ; 
1  Pet.  iii.  8 ;  Phil.  ii.  2 ;  i.  27  ;  iii.  16 ;  John  xiii.  34  ; 
xvii.  20-22.)  We  ought  to  look  upon  ourselves  as 
members  of  the  one  glorious  Church  of  God  from  the 
beginning — the  body  of  Christ — members  of  that  im- 
mortal corporation  which  is  chartered  against  destruc- 
tion by  the  promises  of  Jehovah.  This  is  our  safety 
and  our  strength.  We  are  not  alone  in  our  pilgrim- 
age, but  march  on  toward  eternity  surrounded  by  all  the 
great  and  good  upon  the  earth  and  preceded  by  proph- 
ets, apostles  and  the  glorious  army  of  the  martyrs. 
Hence  the  divisive,  separating  spirit  is  a  mark  of  the 
flesh  (Jude  19),  while  being  separated  and  put  out  of 
the  synagogue  for  righteousness'  sake  is  a  sign  of  bless- 
ing (Luke  vi.  22). 

(3)  Hence  schism  is  a  great  sin  and  ought  to  be 
avoided  by  Christians.  By  schism  I  mean  voluntary 
separation  from  a  true  branch  of  the  Church  of  Christ. 
In  the  New  Testament  schism  is  never  used  in  the  ec- 
clesiastical sense  of  separation  from  the  Church,  but  of 
divisions  and  factions  in  it.  In  Matt.  ix.  16  it  is  a 
"  rent ;"  in  all  other  passages  it  is  rendered  "  division," 
except  1  Cor.  xii.  25,  where  it  might  also  be  rendered 


264  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

"  division."  Thus  the  moderates  and  the  evangelicals 
in  the  Church  of  Scotland  were  schismatics,  and  in  the 
English  Church,  the  Calvinists,  Arminians  and  papists ; 
the  Broad  Church,  the  Low  Church,  the  High  Church 
and  the  high  and  dry  are  all  the  schismata  of  the  prim- 
itive Church.  /Schism  has  no  necessary  connection  with 
religious  opinions.  Any  kind  of  division  in  the  Church 
is  schism.  Heresy  is  used,  in  most  cases,  in  the  same 
sense ;  thus  "  heresies,"  in  1  Cor.  xi.  19,  is  equivalent  to 
"schism"  in  verse  18;  in  Gal.  v.  20  heresies  are  reck- 
oned among  the  works  of  the  flesh ;  in  2  Pet.  ii.  1  we 
have  the  only  clear,  distinct  example  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment of  the  word  heresy  being  applied  to  false  doctrines. 
Some  denied  the  Lord  that  bought  them,  and  that  is 
called  a  damnable  heresy.  It  was  this  text,  no  doubt, 
which  finally  determined  the  ecclesiastical  application 
of  the  word  to  its  present  ecclesiastical  usage.  Thus, 
contrary  to  the  common  habit  of  both  classical  and 
New-Testament  Greek,  schism  came  to  denote  sects  and 
heresy  false  doctrines.  The  word  heresies  was  the  com- 
mon name  for  the  different  philosophical  sects,  as  the 
Stoics,  the  Epicureans,  the  lonians,  etc.  (Epictet.,  ii.  19; 
Diodor.  Sic,  2,  29).  Just  so  the  scribes,  the  Phari- 
sees, the  Sadducees,  the  Essenes,  the  Christians  (Acts 
xxviii.  22),  were  so  many  heresies  in  the  Jewish 
Church.  In  the  same  way  the  different  orders  in  the 
popish  apostasy,  the  Jesuits,  the  Carmelites,  the  Fran- 
ciscans, etc.,  are  classes  of  well-regulated  heretics ;  the 
Whigs,  Tories,  Puseyites  and  evangelicals  are  all  here- 
tics in  the  ordinary  Scripture  sense  of  the  word.  In 
the  Church  there  should  be  nothing  of  this.  Believers 
should  be  all  of  one  mind  in  the  Lord.  (See  1  Cor.  i. 
10;  Bom.  xvi.  17,  18;  1  Cor.  v.  11 ;  Heb.  xiii.  17  ;  1 


CHAPTER  IV.     VEESES  1-16.  265 

John  ii.  19,  20.)  The  Fathers  of  the  first  ages  pour 
forth  the  whole  vehemence  of  their  invective  against 
separation  from  the  visible  Church  ;  the  English  divines 
follow  in  their  footsteps  (Palmer,  Church.  \.4i5),  and  the 
Dissenters,  such  as  Baxter  and  Owen,  maintain  the 
same  principles.  Baxter  {Cure  of  Church  Division) 
says,  "He  that  is  out  of  the  Church  is  without  the 
teaching,  the  holy  worship,  the  prayers  and  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  Church,  and  is  out  of  the  way  where  the 
Spirit  doth  come,  and  out  of  the  society  which  Christ 
is  specially  related  to,  for  he  is  the  Saviour  of  the  body  ; 
and  if  we  leave  his  hospital,  we  cannot  exj^ect  the  j^res- 
ence  and  help  of  the  Physician.  jSTor  will  he  be  a 
pilot  to  them  who  forsake  his  ship,  nor  a  captain  to 
them  who  separate  from  his  army.  Out  of  this  ark 
there  is  nothing  but  a  deluge  and  no  place  of  rest  or 
safety  for  the  soul."  Calvin  uses  still  stronger  language, 
and  it  would  be  easy  to  multiply  such  quotations  from 
the  Reformers  to  almost  any  extent. 

(4)  The  causes  of  separation  from  a  Church  must  be 
sought  in  many  directions.  The  Reformers,  in  general, 
did  not  separate  from  the  churches  which  they  sought 
to  reform.  Luther  was  excomnmnicated  ;  the  Puritans 
were  expelled  by  severe  and  cruel  decrees  concerning 
things  indifferent ;  the  English  and  German  nations  are 
not  schismatics  in  not  submitting  to  the  iniquitous  de- 
crees of  the  Council  of  Trent.  Generally  speaking, 
the  various  sects  and  parties  in  the  Christian  Church 
have  arisen  from  the  same  cause — opj^ression,  or,  in 
some  cases,  church  discipline.  They  must  indeed  be 
very  serious  which  can  justify  a  man  in  voluntarily 
separating  from  the  Church  in  which  Providence  has 
placed  him.     Of  course  no  man   should   conceal  the 


266  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

truth,  be  the  consequences  what  they  my.  If  I  were 
a  priest  in  the  Church  of  Rome  and  believed  in  the 
doctrines  of  free  grace,  I  would  not  leave  that  commu- 
nion. I  would  tell  my  case  to  the  bishop,  show  him  the 
grounds  of  my  faith  and  state  my  determination  to  abide 
by  them.  If  I  gained  him  for  the  truth,  well ;  if  not, 
I  would  have  done  my  duty  ;  but  at  all  hazards  I  would 
preach  the  gospel  to  the  people  of  my  charge,  and  if 
he  then  separated  me  from  my  jDCople  it  would  be  per- 
secution for  righteousness'  sake  and  I  might  expect  the 
Lord's  blessing :  "  Blessed  are  }  e,  when  men  shall  hate 
you,  and  separate  you  from  their  company,  and  shall  re- 
proach you,  and  cast  out  your  name  as  evil,  for  the  Son 
of  man's  sake.  Rejoice  ye  in  that  day,  and  leap  for 
joy :  for,  behold,  your  reward  is  great  in  heaven " 
(Luke  vi.  22,  23).  On  the  other  hand,  hear  what  Jude 
says  of  the  mockers  of  the  last  days :  "  These  be  they 
who  separate  themselves,  sensual,  not  having  the  Spirit" 
(Jude  19).  So  great  is  the  difference  between  separat- 
ing and  being  separated.  The  first  is  a  sign  of  carnality, 
and  the  second  has  great  reward  in  heaven.  If,  indeed, 
the  pastors  of  a  Church  have  become  false  teachers  and 
lying  prophets,  you  are  not  bound  to  hear  them.  No 
man  is,  or  can  be,  bound  to  hear  error,  and  in  that  case 
separation  is  not  schism. 

(5)  It  is  manifest  that  the  various  original  churches 
which  sprang  up  after  the  resurrection  of  Christ  and 
the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  had  not  all  the  same  rites, 
forms  and  ceremonies.  There  was,  therefore,  no  abso- 
lute unity  as  to  the  mode  of  public  worship.  The 
Scripture  does  not  hint,  much  less  assert,  that  the 
whole  Church  of  God  is  to  be  and  remain  for  ever 
under  the  guidance  of  one  visible  and  infallible  head 


CHAPTER  IV.    VERSES   1-16.  267 

whose  dwelling-place  is  to  be  Rome,  the  centre  of 
heathen  and  Christian  superstition.  Christendom,  ac- 
cording to  the  New  Testament,  is  not  to  consist  of  one 
universal,  world-embracing  monarchy  with  Rome  for 
its  centre  and  the  pope  for  its  head,  but  of  many 
various  and  differently  constructed  monarchies  and 
republics,  all  dwelling  in  peace  and  harmony  under 
the  one  sovereign  and  universal  Head  in  heaven.  The 
twelve  apostles  founded  the  churches  of  the  primitive 
ages,  and  no  one  church  sought  or  claimed  any  suprem- 
acy over  the  rest.  Their  rivalry  was  that  of  love  and 
good  works,  of  apostolic  earnestness  and  unconquerable 
zeal.  They  were  all  sister-churches,  equal,  beautiful, 
shining  like  stars  in  the  right  hand  of  Him  who  walks 
in  the  midst  of  the  seven  golden  candlesticks  (Rev.  i. 
13).  The  outward  pressure  of  ]  ersecution  and  the 
promises  of  their  risen  Master  kept  them  in  unity  of 
faith  and  love.  They  found  it  necessary  to  keep  near 
their  Lord,  and  in  being  so  they  were  near  one  another. 
(6)  There  is,  in  my  opinion,  as  much  unity  in  the 
Church  of  Christ  now  as  ever  there  was  since  the  apos- 
tolic age.  This  may  seem  a  strange  assertion,  but  it  is 
nevertheless  true.  Consider,  first  of  all,  we  have  no  so 
violent,  so  various  and  so  monstrously  erroneous  sects  as 
existed  in  the  early  ages  of  the  Church.  Again,  in  the 
dark,  barbarous  ages  ignorance  and  stupidity  prevent- 
ed the  nations  from  being  able  to  exercise  any  reason- 
ble,  intelligible  faith  at  all ;  but  when  there  was  thought, 
there  was  variety  in  the  same  proportion,  and  much  in 
the  same  way,  as  at  the  present  t:me.  Under  the  gos- 
pel system  there  were,  and  there  are,  all  varieties  of 
opinion.  The  different  orders  held  different  doctrines. 
No  two  Protestant  churches  ever  hated  each  other  so 


268  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

violently  as  did  the  Jesuits  and  the  Jansenists,  the  Au- 
gustinians  and  the  Dominicans.  Popes  excommuni- 
cated popes ;  councils,  councils  ;  nations,  nations ;  Ari- 
ans,  Socinians  and  Pelagians  found  refuge  under  the 
skirts  of  the  imperial  harlot  (Ilev.  xvii.  5).  The  mod- 
ern German  Catholics  were  all  within  her ;  France  was 
lying  quietly  in  her  capacious  bosom ;  while  the  philos- 
ophers and  encyclopaedists  were  filling  the  minds  of 
the  masses  with  the  deadliest  infidel  poison.  I  know 
some  devout  Roman  Catholics  who  do  not  believe  in  a 
future  state ;  and,  in  general,  it  may  be  held  as  a  truth 
that  the  virulence  of  error  and  heresy  increases  in  pro- 
portion to  the  necessity  of  silence  and  concealment.  As 
there  is  more  moral  feeling,  so  is  there  probably  more 
unity  of  faith,  in  England  than  in  Italy.  It  is  well 
known  that  the  Jesuits  often  maintained  very  free 
opinions  on  the  most  sacred  subjects ;  and  for  Roman 
Catholics  in  general  there  seems  to  be  absolutely  ne- 
cessary no  article  of  faith  but  the  headship  of  the  pope. 
Admit  this,  and  hold  what  you  like  besides.  The  pope 
offered  to  consecrate  the  English  Liturgy  and  receive 
the  Reformed  Protestant  Church  of  England  into  his 
paternal  embrace  if  he  were  only  recognized  as  the 
head  of  the  Church.  On  the  same  principle,  he  has 
received  all  the  sects  of  the  East,  who  still  hold  their 
own  doctrines  and  follow  their  own  ritual.  I  repeat 
it,  then,  there  is  as  much  unity  now  in  the  popish 
Church  as  ever  there  was  ;  and  the  Protestant  churches 
of  England,  Scotland,  France,  Germany,  Sweden  and 
America  are  as  united  in  faith  and  love  and  brotherly 
affection  as  were  the  churches  of  the  second,  third  and 
fourth  centuries. 


CHAPTER   IV.    VERSES   1-16.  269 

IV.  One  Spirit. 
There  is  one  body  and  one  Spirit,  says  the  apostle — 
viz.,  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Sanctifier  and  Comforter. 
The  body  is  one,  with  many  members ;  so  the  Spirit 
that  forms  and  quickens  them  is  also  one.  The  unity 
of  God,  the  unity  of  the  Mediator,  the  unity  of  the 
Spirit  and  the  unity  of  the  Church  all  stand  upon  the 
same  foundation  in  the  word  of  God — one  God,  one 
Mediator,  one  Lifegiver  and  one  body,  the  Church. 
We  have  here  to  do  with  the  one  Spirit.  This  is  the 
Spirit  of  God  (Gen.  i.  2 ;  Matt.  iii.  16) ;  the  Spirit  of 
the  Father  (Matt.  x.  20) ;  the  Spirit  of  Jehovah  (Gen. 
vi.  3) ;  the  Spirit  of  Christ  (E,om.  viii.  9 ;  Gal.  iv.  6 ; 
Phil.  i.  19) ;  the  Spirit  of  adoption,  who  fills  us  with 
love  to  God  and  makes  us  cry,  "Abba,  Father"  (Gal. 
iv.  4-7 ;  2  Tim.  i.  7) ;  the  Spirit  of  grace,  who  leads 
us  to  Emmanuel  (Heb.  x.  29;  ii.  3,  4;  vi.  4,  5 ;  Rom. 
xii.  6 ;  1  Cor.  xii.  13) ;  the  Spirit  of  verity,  to  lead  us 
into  all  truth  (John  xiv.  17;  xv.  26;  xvi.  13);  the 
Spirit  of  promise,  because  he  was  promised  to  the 
fathers  and  poured  out  upon  the  Church  after  the 
ascension  of  Christ  (Eph.  i.  13 ;  Acts  i.  4 ;  ii.  33 ; 
Joel  ii.  28;  Luke  xxiv.  49).  He  is  eternal  (Heb.  ix. 
14),  holy  (Rom.  i.  4),  omnipresent  (Ps.  cxxxix.  7),  om- 
niscient (1  Cor.  ii.  10).  He  spake  by  the  prophets 
(Neh.  ix.  30;  Acts  vii.  51;  1  Pet.  i.  11 ;  2  Pet.  i. 
21) ;  he  is  the  Author  of  miracles  and  all  supernat- 
ural gifts  in  the  Church  (Matt.  xii.  28 ;  Rom.  xv.  19 ; 
Acts  ii.  4-14;  Heb.  ii.  4 ;  1  Cor.  xii.  3-12).  If  Jesus 
be  the  image  of  God  for  the  eye,  the  Holy  Ghost  is  the 
Linguist  to  utter  forth  in  all  languages  the  wonderful 
works  of  God.     He  is,  in  fact,  described  in  Scripture 


270  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

with  the  names,  attributes  and  perfections  of  God.  The 
constant  faith  of  the  whole  Church,  in  all  nations  and 
in  all  ages,  has  been  in  the  Father,  the  Son  and  the 
Holy  Ghost  as  the  one  true  and  eternal  God,  the 
Creator,  Redeemer  and  Governor  of  the  world. 
There  is  one  Spirit  and — 

V.   One  Hope  of  youk  Calling. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  calling  (ver.  1),  and 
now  we  have  only  to  consider  the  hope  which  belongs 
to  it.  But  what  is  the  meaning  of  being  called  in  one 
hope  of  your  calling  ? 

The  Greek  preposition  bv,  which  is  the  origin  of  our 
"  in,"  and  in  many  cases  answers  to  it,  is  thus  explained 
by  Bengel :  "  It  denotes  indolem  rei,  the  nature  of  the 
thing  referred  to."  Thus  we  are  called  in  peace,  in 
holiness,  in  the  hope  of  our  calling.  Macknight  gives 
it  seventeen  different  meanings,  with  abundant  proofs 
for  each,  and  our  translators  have  given  it  nearly  as 
many.  I  need  not  refer  to  passages.  Perhaps  the  best 
translation  in  this  verse  is  unto  :  "  Ye  are  called  by 
the  gospel  unto  the  one  great  hope  of  your  calling  in 
Christ  Jesus ;"  and  in  this  sense  I  take  it. 

What,  then,  is  this  hope,  this  one  hope,  unto  which 
we  are  called  ?  I  answer  thus  :  God,  who  knows  what 
is  in  man,  has  suited  his  world  and  his  word  to  our 
material  and  spiritual  conditions.  We  are  creatures  of 
hope  as  well  as  of  sense  and  memory.  The  future,  dis- 
tant and  near,  as  seen  in  the  divine  word,  presents  to  the 
eye  of  man  a  thousand  varieties  of  things  hoped  for,  like 
innumerable  stars,  some  dimmer,  some  brighter,  shining 
through  the  darkness  of  a  cloudy  sky.  We  have  tlie 
hope  of  the  resurrection — the  resurrection  of  the  just, 


CHAPTER  IV.    VERSES   1-16.  271 

the  first  resurrection,  which  seems  to  be  the  privilege 
of  the  saints,  and  therefore  a  ho})e  (xicts  xxviii.  20 ;  1 
Cor.  XV.  23)  ;  they  that  are  Christ's  (Luke  xx.  36)  ;  the 
sons  of  God  (Kev.  xx.  5).  (Comp.  1  Thess.  iv.  14; 
Kom.  viii.  23;  Luke  xiv.  14.)  AVe  have  the  hope  of 
righteousness  (Gah  v.  5)  wlien  the  work  is  done ;  the 
hope  of  the  gospel  (Col.  i.  23)  ;  the  hope  of  glory  (Col. 
i.  27)  to  strengthen  our  fainting  spirits.  It  is  a  hidden 
hope,  laid  up  for  us  in  heaven — a  hope  that  shall  never 
make  ashamed  ;  the  hope  of  being  with  and  like  Christ 
in  his  glorious  kingdom  for  ever.  AH  these  aspirations 
and  varieties  seem  to  be  united  in  the  one  great  hope 
which  has  animated  the  Church  from  the  beginning — 
the  hope  of  the  coming  and  kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ, 
which  is  therefore  called,  by  way  of  eminence,  the 
blessed  hope  (Tit.  ii.  13).  I  think,  therefore,  that  this 
is  the  one  hope  of  our  calling  and  includes  all  the 
others.  The  Jews  had  the  coming  of  Christ  in  the 
flesh  as  their  great  national  hope,  and  we  Christians 
look  for  his  coming  in  glory  as  the  substance  of  things 
hoped  for.  This  is  the  ho]  e  of  the  New  Testament  as 
distinguished  from  that  of  the  Old,  and  the  Gospels 
and  Epistles  are  full  of  it.  It  animated  the  early 
Christians  in  their  faithful  contendings,  it  is  embod- 
ied in  the  Lord's  Prayer,  it  is  the  cry  of  the  widowed 
Church  and  the  groaning  creation  :  Come,  Lord  Jesus, 
come  quickly  !  It  is  therefore  the  one  hope  ;  and,  as 
we  are  called  to  a  kingdom,  to  be  kings  and  priests 
unto  God  and  our  Father,  it  is  the  one  hope  of  our 
calling.  That  great  event  is  connected  with  many 
others,  to  which  it  gives  character  and  significance, 
as  it  is  closely  connected  with  all  the  feelings  of  the 
mind — the  hopes    and  fears,  the   duties   and    neglects 


272  GEAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

of  duty,  of  which  our  Christian  experience  is   made 
up. 

The  cross  and  the  crown,  the  coming  of  Christ  in  the 
fiesh  and  his  coming  in  glory,  being  the  historical  and 
the  prophetical,  and  so  the  proper  food  for  memory  and 
hope,  are  the  two  centres  of  the  divine  word  and  the 
divine  administration  around  which  all  the  systems  of 
grace  and  providence  revolve.  There  is  one  faith  in  the 
dying  Lamb,  and  one  hope  in  the  coming  King.  We 
behold  the  cross,  and  with  tears  of  penitence  the  chains 
of  sin  dissolve  in  divine  mercy  ;  while  at  the  same  mo- 
ment our  humble  but  immortal  hopes  begin  to  cluster 
around  the  coming  King  of  glory,  without  whom  we  can- 
not do  any  longer,  whom  it  will  be  our  delight  to  glorify 
and  adore  in  the  sanctuary  above,  when  faith  and  hope 
shall  be  swallowed  up  in  the  fruition  of  eternal  love. 

VI.    The  Lordship  op"  Jesus. 

We  come  now  to  the  lordship  of  Je.sus :  there  is  one 
Lord.     Here  we  remark — 

(1)  That  the  title  Lord  (in  Greek,  Kopcoc:),  when  taken 
in  a  solemn  religious  sense,  always  denotes  the  one  liv- 
ing and  eternal  God,  the  Creator  and  Ruler  of  the 
world  (Matt.  i.  22 ;  Luke  i.  6,  28 ;  Acts  vii.  33 ;  Heb. 
viii.  2,  10 ;  James  iv.  15)  ;  nor  does  the  absence  of  the 
article  alter  the  sense  in  the  least  degree  (Matt,  xxvii. 
10 ;  Mark  xiii.  20 ;  Luke  i.  58 ;  Acts  vii.  49 ;  Rom.  iv. 
8  ;  Heb.  vii.  21 ;  1  Pet.  i.  25).  In  the  Septuagint  it  is 
used  throughout  for  the  great  unutterable  name  "  Je- 
hovah," the  highest  and  holiest  known  to  the  Hebrew 
nation.  This  is  the  common  name  of  Jesus  in  the  New 
Testament,  and  seems  naturally  to  identify  him  with  the 
God  of  Israel.     It  is  applied  to  him  with  and  without 


CHAPTER   IV.     VERSES   1-16.  273 

tlie  article  in  its  highest  and  most  unqualified  accepta- 
tion (Eph.  i.  22 ;  Rom.  x.  12 ;  ix.  5  ;  2  Cor.  iii.  16,  17, 
18 ;  Eph.  V.  10 ;  Col.  iii.  23  ;  2  Thess.  iii.  1,  5 ;  2  Tim. 
iv.  8  ;  James  v.  7),  and  consequently  presents  him  to 
our  faith  as  the  object  of  our  veneration  and  love.  He 
is  our  Lord.  He  is  one  with  the  Father,  and  along  with 
him  the  proper  object  of  religious  worship.  The  Church 
worships  him  (1  Cor.  i.  2)  ;  Stephen,  when  dying  and 
full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  adored  him  (Acts  vii.  59,  60)  ; 
the  hosts  of  heaven — holy  angels  and  redeemed  men — 
worship  him   (Rev.  v.  11-14)  with  songs  of  praise: 

"  '  Worthy  the  Lamb  thnt  died,'   they  cry, 
'To  be  exalted  thus;' 
'  Worthy  the  Lamb,'  let  us  reply, 
'  For  he  was  slain  for  us.'  " 

Lordship  denotes  three  things — possession,  power  and 
glory — and  they  all  meet  in  him.  We  are  his  ;  the 
world,  the  sun,  moon  and  stars,  the  created  universe,  is 
his  property  (Col.  i.  16).  All  power  in  heaven  and  on 
earth  is  in  his  hand,  and  he  is  surrounded  by  the  pomp 
and  majesty  of  the  heavenly  throne.  He  is  Lord  of  all 
(Acts  X.  36). 

(2)  But  how  is  he  the  one  Lord  f  Answer :  He  is 
not  the  only  Lord,  in  opposition  to  the  Father  or  the 
Holy  S})irit,  for  tliese  are  also  in  Scripture  called  I^ord, 
and  to  the  three  divine  Persons  all  names  and  attributes 
equally  belong.*  But  he  is  the  one  Lord,  owing  to  his 
special  relations  to  the  Church  and  in  opposition  to  the 
various  false  religions  of  the  world.  There  are  many 
systems  of  worship,  many  rulers  of  the  darkness  of 
this  world,  but  to  us  there  is  ojie  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 

*  Horrp  Solitaricp  i.  7. 
35 


274  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

and  his  authority  is  all  in  all.  There  is  no  other  name 
but  his  given  under  heaven  whereby  we  can  be  saved ; 
he  is  the  one  living  Head  of  the  Church,  and  the  only 
Mediator  between  God  and  man.  There  is  salvation  in 
no  other ;  he  alone  died  for  us,  and  he  is  the  only  Ad- 
vocate and  Mediator  at  the  right  hand  of  God ;  and 
hence  we  can  say  with  Paul,  "  There  is  one  Lord  " — 
one  from  the  first  of  time  to  the  last ;  for  in  creation, 
in  providence  and  in  redemption  he  is  the  Lord,  the 
Worker,  the  Mediator,  the  Agent  of  Jehovah  in  bring- 
ing his  purposes  into  outward  form  and  re  ility.  He  is 
the  Lord,  the  one  Lord,  Head  and  Executor  of  the  cov- 
enants with  Adam,  Noah,  Abraham  and  Moses,  as  well 
as  of  the  new  covenant  which  is  called  by  his  name.  In 
all  time,  in  all  space,  in  all  manifestations  of  the  Deity, 
of  every  kind  and  degree,  he  is  the  one  Lord,  the 
Word,  the  Worker,  the  Revealer,  through  whom  the 
ineffable  Jehovah  reveals  to  the  universe  something  of 
his  glory. 

(3)  But  we  may  surely  ask,  in  passing.  What  is  the 
nature  of  his  lordship  f  How  does  his  rule  affect  us  ? 
Is  he  actually  ruling  now  ?  We  must  limit  our  answer 
to  such  questions  altogether  to  the  Scripture.  Reason 
and  imagination  do  not  reach  these  themes.  We  see 
something  of  the  nature  of  his  rule  in  the  great  prin- 
ciple of  his  Headship.  He  is  the  Church's  Head  (Eph. 
iv.  13-16).  He  is  the  Head  of  the  human  race,  the 
second  Adam  (1  Cor.  xi.  3).  The  angels  are  made  sub- 
ject to  him  (1  Pet.  iii.  22).  He  is  Head  and  Ruler 
over  the  whole  universe  (Eph.  i.  22),  and  that  not 
simply  as  God,  but  as  God-Man  and  Mediator  (Matt, 
xxvii.  18)  ;  so  that  the  nature  of  man  is  glorified  be- 
yond all   conception,  and  the  divine   idea  of  making 


CHAPTER  IV.     VERSES  1-16.  275 

man  the  royal  family  of  heaven,  the  regnant  form  of 
creature-being,  is  coming  into  actual  accomplishment. 
Here  is  dignity  for  you,  O  brother-man !  Look  up 
to  the  throne  of  God.  The  angels  are  round  about  it, 
but  your  nature  is  on  it.  Why  talk  of  the  dignity  of 
man  and  point  us  to  Neuton  and  Milton  and  Locke, 
to  the  Alexanders,  the  Caesars,  and  such-like  conquer- 
ors and  heroes  ?  Honor  to  the  brave,  wherever  they 
are!  But  let  us  open  the  eye  of  faith  and  contem- 
plate humanity  in  its  full-orbed  glory  as  it  is  predes- 
tinated to  be,  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ.  I  do  not 
wonder  that  many  should  be  inclined  to  doubt  the 
doctrines  of  incarnation,  atonement  and  headship,  for 
they  are  altogether  unlike  what  men  would  originate. 
They  are  too  large,  too  deep,  too  big,  for  our  dwarfisli 
conceptions.  We  are  of  the  earth,  earthy ;  these  are 
of  heaven,  heavenly.  God  himself  in  my  nature ! 
Humanity  taken  up  into  Godhead  and  made  the  me- 
dium of  the  Creator's  working !  It  is  no  mere  escape 
from  damnation.  Not  only  is  sin  expiated  and  Satan 
foiled  and  the  gates  of  hell  closed,  but  I  am  carried 
away  into  the  glories  of  the  skies,  into  the  throne  of 
the  universe,  into  the  very  bosom  of  God.  The  low- 
est has  become  the  highest,  the  receiver  has  become 
the  giver,  the  Burden-Bearer  the  Sceptre- Bearer,  the 
lowly  Man  of  sorrows  the  life-quickening  God.  In 
Jesus  I  share  all  this.  In  his  birth  I  was  born,  in  his 
death  I  have  died,  in  his  grave  I  was  buried,  in  his 
resurrection  I  rose,  in  his  ascension  I  ascended,  and  in 
his  advent  I  shall  come  with  him.  This  is  the  power 
of  faith.  Not  as  a  single  isolated  individual,  but  as 
the  Head  and  Representative  of  his  Church,  and  of 
humanity  generally,  did  he  live,  die  and  rise  again, 


276  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

and  therefore  all  his  victories  and  all  his  ojlories  art- 
ours  by  faith,  and  we  shall  surely,  when  the  time  comes, 
share  the  splendors  of  his  reign.  This  is  the  true  dig- 
nity of  manhood ;  this  is  the  glory  of  the  human  race. 
Jesus  is  Lord,  he  is  the  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth, 
and  yet  he  is  my  brother.  Keep  this  steadily  in  view, 
and  all  the  noise  made  by  Renan,  Schenkel  and  the 
English  Epicurean  crew  will  appear  nothing  better 
than  the  grunting  of  the  Gadarene  swine  in  their  race 

to  the  deep. 

VII.  One  Faith. 

One  and  the  same  faith.  The  Jews  and  the  Gentiles 
are  united  in  one  faith  and  formed  into  the  one  Church 
of  God ;  we  were  formerly  divided,  but  now  we  are 
united.  Thei-e  is  proclaimed  a  new  principle  of  union 
which  is  to  heal  all  divisions  and  unite  all  nations,  and 
that  principle  is  faith.  The  bond  and  the  free  are  to 
meet,  the  slave  and  his  master,  the  conquered  and  the 
conqueror,  the  black  man  and  the  white  man,  the  red 
man  and  the  nuilatto  ;  all  tongues  and  nations  and  races 
are  to  be  built  up  into  the  great  tem})le  of  God,  and 
the  cement  that  unites  them  all  is  faith.  They  are 
to  be  one  vine,  and  faith  is  the  sap  that  vivifies  it; 
they  are  to  be  one  body,  and  the  blood  that  circulates 
through  all  its  members  is  faith ;  they  are  to  be  one 
house,  a  habitation  of  God  through  the  Spirit,  and 
faith  is  the  medium  of  their  adoption,  as  it  is  written : 
"  Ye  are  all  the  children  of  God  by  faith  in  Christ 
Jesus."  Then,  again,  the  great  objects  of  our  faith 
are  the  same,  and  the  hopes  which  it  produces  in  all 
nations  and  ages  are  essentially  one.  The  subtle  dis- 
tinctions and  forms  of  words  which  in  after-ages  di- 
vided and  distracted  the  Church  were  unneeded  and 


CHvPTER  IV.    VERSES  1-16.  277 

unknown.  The  early  Christians  drank  the  refreshing 
streams  at  the  fountain-head,  and  were  not,  like  us, 
overwhelmed  with  the  bitter  waters  of  division  and 
formality.  They  loved  Him  who  was  their  all,  even 
Jesus,  and  in  the  fellowship  of  his  love  they  felt 
themselves  one  in  faith  and  hope  and  charity. 

Faith  is  not  the  assent  of  the  mind  to  a  form  of 
sound  words,  however  true  and  beautiful,  but  the 
resting  of  the  soul  upon  the  work  and  person  of 
Christ.  The  firm  defenders  of  an  orthodox  creed 
may  be  unbelievers,  knowing  nothing  of  the  faith 
whose  forms  they  defend.  Many,  on  the  other  hand, 
have  a  firm,  victorious  faith  who  have  no  forms  at 
all.  "  I  cannot  argue  for  him,  but  I  can  die  for  him," 
said  a  poor  woman  whom  Dr.  Chalmers  had  thought 
too  ignorant  to  be  admitted  to  the  Lord's  Supper. 

There  may  also  be  oneness  of  faith  in  the  midst  of 
a  great  variety  of  sentiments  and  opinions,  and  there 
may  be  an  utter  absence  of  faith  in  the  midst  of 
stringent  and  ritual  uniformity.  In  all  the  Protestant 
churches  and  nations  there  is  substantial  unity  of 
faith,  as  was  before  observed,  even  if  we  take  faith 
in  the  sense  of  symbolical  credos  or  external  dogmat- 
ical articles.  They  all  admit  the  doctrines  of  the 
three  oecumenical  councils,  and  most  of  them  have 
embodied  the  three  creeds  in  the  constitution  of  the 
national  churches.  Even  the  papists  have  not  been 
able  to  corrupt  and  pervert  these  noble  monuments 
of  antiquity.  These  three  creeds,  the  Apostles'  (so 
called),  the  Nicene  and  the  Athanasian,  are,  with 
few  exceptions,  the  received  symbolical  faith  of  Chris- 
tendom, and  some  of  the  nations  and  churches  which 
do    not   formally    admit   them   are   the   most   resolute 


278  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

defenders  of  their  general  doctrines.  Read  these 
venerable  documents,  and  you  have  the  objective 
faith  of  the  Christian  world.  So  that,  notwithstand- 
ing all  our  divisions,  national  and  ecclesiastical,  three 
liundred  millions  of  the  human  race  can,  with  the 
apostle,  say.  We  have  one  faith. 

Thus  we  can  say  the  fountain  of  our  faith  is  one — the 
Bible  ;  the  agent  of  our  faith  is  one — the  Holy  Spirit ; 
and  the  great  principles  of  the  three  creeds  are  admitted 
and  defended  by  all  Christians. 

VIII.  One  Baptism. 
One  baptism  also  belongs  to  these  celebrated  unities 
of  the  apostle.  This  is  the  holy  rite  by  which  we  are 
admitted  into  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  it  remains  the 
same  in  substance  among  all  Christians  as  it  was  at  the 
beginning ;  for  the  papists  themselves  admit  their  addi- 
tions to  be  mainly  useful  in  clothing  the  simple  rite 
with  greater  majesty  and  splendor.  The  form  is  given 
in  the  New  Testament,  and  cannot  be  altered  without 
vitiating  the  whole  institution.  It  must  be  in  the 
name  of  the  Father,  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost, 
otherwise  it  is  not  Christian  baptism  ;  thus  the  doctrine 
of  the  Holy  Trinity  is  embodied  in  the  initiatory  rite 
of  the  Christian  Church,  and  thereby  shows  that  the 
starting-point  of  the  believer  is  grace.  He  goes  forth 
from  the  separating  waters  as  a  son,  bearing  the 
Father's  name;  as  a  redeemed  creature,  bearing  the 
cross  of  his  Master ;  as  an  anointed  one,  having  the 
])romise  of  the  Spirit  to  strengthen  and  comfort  him 
in  fighting  the  good  fight  of  faith.  But  does  baptism, 
then,  confer  grace  ?  Undoubtedly  ;  what  else  is  it  for  ? 
All  the  ordinances  of  Christ  are  channels  of  grace  and 


CHAPTER    IV.     VERSES   1-lG.  279 

blessing  to  those  who  jiroperly  use  them.  All  Chris- 
tians are  agreed  that  the  greatest  blessings  are  connected 
with  it- — viz.,  the  forgiveness  of  sins  and  the  ingrafting 
into  the  body  of  Christ ;  while  many,  speculating  on 
the  mode  and  seeking  to  tie  down  the  efficacy  and 
working  of  the  Spirit  of  God  to  tiiiie  and  place  and 
person,  would  reduce  this  most  blessed  ordinance  into 
an  opus  operatum,  or  magical  charm,  which  takes  effect 
only  in  the  hands  of  certain  privileged  conjurors ;  yet, 
notwithstanding  the  importance  of  the  ordinance  of 
baptism,  grace  and  salvation  are  not  so  inseparably 
annexed  unto  it  as  that  no  person  can  be  regenerated 
or  saved  without  it,  or  that  all  that  are  baptized  are 
undoubtedly  regenerated.  There  is  one  baptism ;  and 
the  English,  the  Scotch  and  the  Germans  are  as  well 
baptized  and  show  as  many  fruits  of  the  Spirit  as 
Spain,  Italy  and  Austria.  The  presumption  of  papists 
and  apostolical  successionists  is  intolerable.  "  By  their 
fruits  ye  shall  know  them  ;"  and  we  will  not  take  their 
thorns  and  thistles  for  the  fig  tree  and  the  vine. 

IX.  One  God  and  Father  of  All. 

One  God  and  Father  of  all,  who  is  above  all,  and 
through  all,  and  in  you  all  (ver.  6). 

Here  in  Greek,  as  in  English,  the  absence  of  one 
before  the  second  noun,  Father,  shows  that  it  belongs 
to  and  qualifies  the  first,  and  the  meaning  is.  There  is 
One  who  is  God  and  Father  of  us  all.  God  and 
Father  belong  to  the  same  person.  It  is  the  same  con- 
struction as  that  of  the  Greek  article  in  similar  cases. 
When  two  nouns  are  connected  by  and,  the  first  having 
the  article  and  the  second  not,  you  are  to  refer  both 
nouns  to  the  same  person  (Col.  ii.  2 ;  1  Pet.  i.  3 ;  2  Pet 


280  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

i.  2 ;  Jude  4 ;  Eph.  i.  3 ;  Gal.  i.  4 ;  Eph.  v.  5;  2  Thess. 
i.  12;  Tit.  ii.  13). 

The  ideas  connected  with  God  and  Father — power 
and  love — are  here  beautifully  joined  in  the  same  per- 
son. Deity  and  paternity  are  united  and  manifested 
in  Him  whom  we  adore  as  God.  Majesty  is  softened 
with  tenderness,  and  the  splendors  of  the  divinity  are 
tempered  by  the  condescensions  of  paternal  love.  This 
principle  is  indeed  wonderfully  exemplified  in  all  God's 
dealings  with  the  human  race  since  the  beginning  of  the 
world.  The  entire  Jewish  theocracy  was  the  clothing 
of  the  splendors  of  the  present  Kuler  under  the  forms 
of  a  carnal  ritualism.  Whenever,  in  the  Old  Testament, 
the  glory  of  the  Lord  appears,  two  things  take  place : 
the  sinful  creature  is  laid  in  the  dust,  and  then  a  word 
of  comfort  comes  from  the  excellent  glory.  Power  is 
tempered  with  grace ;  the  majesty  of  Jehovah,  with  the 
human-heartedness  of  the  Father.  Thus  it  was  with 
Isaiah  (vi.  5-9)  ;  Ezekiel  fell  prostrate  (iii.  23) ;  Daniel 
fainted  and  was  sick  certain  days  (viii.  17—27)  ;  John 
the  beloved  fell  down  as  dead  before  the  glory  of  his 
Master  (Rev.  i.  17)  ;  and  even  the  fierce  murderer  of 
the  saints  (Acts  ix.  4,  5)  was  overwhelmed  by  the 
manifested  glory.  It  is  a  source  of  comfort  to  remark 
that  in  these  and  all  such  cases  there  is  ever  some  word 
or  act  of  kindness  on  the  part  of  God  to  raise  up  and 
strengthen  his  trembling  creatures.  It  is  the  realizing 
of  the  name  God  and  Father.  He  claims  from  us 
fear  and  confidence,  and  these  feelings  are  awakened 
and  united  by  the  majesty  of  God  and  the  tenderness 
of  a  father.  This  is  indeed  the  princi])le  of  incar- 
nation. The  awful  glory  of  the  incorruptible  God 
is   tempered,    softened,    humanized,  in  the   person    of 


CHAPTER   IV.     VERSES  1-16.  281 

Christ.  A  human  eye  weeps,  but  the  tears  flow  from 
the  fountain  of  Godhead  love ;  a  human  victim  bleeds, 
but  the  rent  veil  of  flesh  discloses  beyond  it  the  ocean 
of  eternal  mercy.  We  connect  in  the  life  of  Jesus 
Christ  the  history  of  a  man  with  the  character,  faith- 
fulness and  compassion  of  God ;  the  human  and  the 
divine  are  united,  and  from  the  cradle  to  the  tomb  his 
life  is  the  manifestation  of  the  name  God  and  Father. 

He  is  above  all — that  is.  the  one  Ruler  and  Lord, 
whose  power  extends  over  all  persons  and  things ;  the 
Kino;  and  Governor  of  the  universe.  There  is  no  ne- 
cessity  for  limiting  the  all  here,  and  the  phrase  "  who 
is  over  all "  is  the  characteristic  of  the  supreme  God, 
and  is  identical  with  pantokrator,  the  omnipotent,  the 
almighty  God  (2  Cor.  vi.  18 :  Rev.  i.  8 ;  iv.  8 ;  xi.  17  ; 
XV.  8;  xvi.  7;  xix.  6,  15).  It  is  aj^plied  to  Christ 
(Rom.  ix.  5),  with  several  additions  to  strengthen  its 
meaning.  He,  like  the  great  Father,  is  over  all  and, 
it  is  added,  "  God  blessed  for  ever  " — viz.,  he  is  the 
supreme  God. 

Most  of  the  ancient  and  many  of  the  modern  com- 
mentators see  in  the  prepositions  above,  through  and  in 
the  relations  of  the  Persons  of  the  Trinity  to  the  creat- 
ure. God  is  over  all  as  the  Father,  sheds  his  grace  and 
strength  through  all  by  Jesus  Christ  the  Son,  the 
Mediator,  and  dwells  in  all  as  the  life  and  sustainer 
by  the  Holy  Ghost.  This  agrees  well  with  the  rela- 
tive positions  of  the  three  divine  Persons  in  reference 
to  the  creation  and  to  one  another :  the  Father  is  on 
the  throne ;  the  Son,  or  Mediator,  is  at  the  right  hand 
of  the  throne ;  and  the  Holy  Spirit  dwells  in  the 
Church.'  Even  De  Wette  admits  a  reference  to  the 
Trinity  in  this  passage,  though  he  is  far  from  explain- 

36 


282  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

iiig  it  in  an  orthodox  sense.  Some  take  you  as  limit- 
ing the  whole  sentence  to  believers,  thus :  "  There  is 
one  God  and  Father,  who  is  above  you  all  and  through 
you  all  and  in  you  all."  This  is  true,  but  it  is  not  the 
whole  truth  of  the  passage.  There  is  no  reason  why 
the  Greek  plural  all  should  necessarily  be  masculine 
in  the  three  cases  where  it  occurs  in  the  verse. 

These  are  the  seven  celebrated  unities,  and  in  the 
hand  of  the  apostle  they  are  arranged  into  a  picture 
of  exquisite  beauty.  To  one  blessed  unity  we  are 
urged — the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace ; 
and  as  examj)les  of  the  principle  of  unity  seven  others 
are  added,  which  embrace  the  most  vital  points  of  the 
Christian  faith.  There  is,  perhaps,  something  in  the 
order  of  arrangement — Church,  Spirit,  Lord  God — 
intended  to  show  the  progress  from  the  outward  and 
visible  to  the  fountain  of  the  invisible  and  incompre- 
hensible God.  The  Spirit  leads  the  believer  to  Christ 
the  Mediator,  who  brings  him  to  the  Father,  where 
the  expanding  and  satisfied  soul  rejoices  in  the  fullness 
of  God.  God  the  Father  is  the  end,  the  Son  the 
Mediator  is  the  way,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  the  Com- 
forter is  the  all-pervading  life.  The  glorious  Being 
called  God  and  Father  is  the  End,  the  Telos  to  which 
Church  and  creation  are  approaching,  as  he  is  also 
the  Pege,  the  fountain  from  which  all  creation  flows. 

X.  Jesus  the  Sovereign  Giver. 

But  u7ito  every  one  of  us  is  grace  given  according  to 
the  measure  of  the  gift  of  Christ  (ver.  7).  This  unfolds 
the  idea  that  Jesus  is  the  sovereign  Giver,  o  it  of  whose 
fullness  we  receive  grace  for  grace.  His  gifts,  accord- 
ing to  this  verse,  are  not  to  be  measured  by  our  deserv- 


CHAPTER    IV.    VERSES   1-16.  283 

iiigs  or  our  prayers,  or  even  by  our  necessities,  or  by 
anything  in  us,  but  according  to  his  own  benevolence. 

Grace,  in  this  place,  is  not  "function"  or  "office," 
though  such  a  sense  is  admissible  (Rom.  xii.  3 ;  xv, 
15 ;  1  Cor.  iii.  10 ;  Gal.  ii.  9 ;  Eph.  iii.  2,  8 ;  2  Tim. 
ii.  1 ;  Rom.  i.  5) ,  but  the  favor,  kindness  and  good 
pleasure  of  God,  which  like  a  fountain  sends  forth  its 
streams  in  all  directions.  It  is  the  grace  which  has  its 
fount  or  source  in  God,  by  which  the  ^reat  Father  was 
disposed  to  give  the  Son — by  which  the  Son,  though 
rich,  for  our  sakes  became  poor,  that  we  through  his 
poverty  might  be  rich   (2  Cor.  viii.  9). 

Grace  is  opposed  to  merit,  and  is  .  ttributed  in  Script- 
ure equally  to  the  Father,  to  the  Son  and  to  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Above  twenty  times  does  the  p  rase  "  grace  of 
God  "  occur  in  the  New  Testament ;  eight  times  we  read 
of  the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  called  by  the  name  "  Spirit  of  grace"  (Heb.  x. 
29).  This  is  the  aspect  in  which  we  delight  to  con- 
template God.  He  is  seated  on  a  throne  of  grace ;  the 
Holy  Scripture  is  the  word  of  his  grace;  the  Son  of 
God  is  the  gift  of  his  grace ;  his  Spirit  works  the  fruits 
of  his  grace  in  the  hearts  and  the  lives  of  believers. 
From  the  Father  as  the  Fountain-Head,  through  the 
Son  as  Mediator,  and  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  Regen- 
erator, the  Comforter,  is  the  gift  of  his  grace  manifested 
to  the  members  of  the  body  of  Christ.  This  shuts  out 
jealousy  by  shutting  out  merit,  and  makes  all  the  mem- 
bers dependent  on  the  Head  alone. 

XI.   The  Ascension  of  Christ. 
Wherefore  he  saith,  When  he  asce7ided  up  on  high,  he 
led  captivity  captive,  and  gave  gifts  unto  men.     [Now 


284  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

that  he  ascended,  whd  is  it  but  that  he  also  descended 
first  into  the  lower  parts  of  the  earth  f  He  that  de- 
scended is  the  same  also  that  ascended  up  far  above  all 
heavens,  that  he  might  fill  all  th'ngs)  (ver.  8-10). 

■  This  great  act  of  the  mighty  power  of  God  opened 
the  heavens  and  gave  us  the  hope  of  entering  into  the 
house  not  made  with  hands.  This  was  predicted  in  the 
Psalms  (Ixviii.  18)  and  shadowed  forth  in  the  institu- 
tion of  the  Aaronic  priesthood.  "  Wherefore  he  saith," 
or  "  the  Scripture  saith,"  or  "  the  Lord  saith  "  (Gah  iii. 
16 ;  V.  14 ;  1  Cor.  vi.  16  ;  James  iv.  6  ;  Acts  xiii.  35 ; 
Heb.  X.  5 ;  2  Cor.  vi.  7),  ''When  he  ascended  up 
on  high,  he  led  captivity  captive,  and  gave  gifts  unto 
men." 

Here  we  observe — 

(1)  That  all  the  forms  of  quotation  go  on  the  prin- 
ciple that  the  Lord  is  the  Author  of  the  sacred  Script- 
ures. They  are  the  word  of  God,  and  the  Bible  is  as 
much  God's  book  as  the  universe  is  God's  work.  He 
is  as  much  the  Author  of  the  Bible  as  John  Bunyan  is 
the  author  of  the  Pilgrim's  Progress,  and  therefore,  ac- 
cording to  the  testimony  of  the  apostle,  it  must  be  given 
by  divine  inspiration. 

(2)  The  words  of  the  psalm  are  not  quoted  literally, 
but  according  to  the  sense.  The  phrase  "  Thou  hast 
received  gifts,"  as  applied  to  Christ  at  his  glorification, 
could  mean  only  that  he  received  for  the  purpose  of 
distribution,  and  hence  the  apostle  quotes  them  in  this 
sense  :  "  He  gave  gifts  to  men."  This  Hebrew  phrase 
may  be  rendered  either  "Thou  hast  received  gifts  in 
the  human  nature,"  or  "Thou  hast  received  gifts  for 
the  sake  of  man."  (See  Gen.  xviii.  28 ;  2  Kings  xiv. 
6.)     The  apostle  uses  the  words  in   the  sense  of  the 


CHAPTER    IV.    VERSES   1-16.  285 

purpose  for  which  the  gifts  were  received,  and  there 
is  no  contradiction  between  the  psalmist  and  the  apos- 
tle. Thus  the  difficulties  of  this  quotation  vanish  when 
we  examine  them  closely,  and  the  Old  and  the  New 
Testament  are  in  complete  harmony. 

Rosenmiiller  expounds  Ps.  xviii.  and  never  mentions 
the  name  of  Christ ;  and  the  neologists  in  general  see 
no  Messiah  in  the  Old  Testament.  To  these,  indeed, 
Eph.  iv.  8,  if  they  had  any  modesty,  would  present  a 
formidable  obstacle.  Paul  asserts  the  psalm  belongs  to 
Christ,  and  they  assert  he  is  mistaken  and  that  he  has 
perverted  (De  Wette)  and  destroyed  its  meaning.  They 
assert  that  lamarom.  ("  on  high  ")  means  the  heights  of 
Mount  Zion,  and  Paul  says  it  means  heaven.  Which 
is  right  ?  (See  the  Scripture  usage  of  the  w^ord :  Ps. 
vii.  7  ;  xviii.  16 ;  xciii.  4 ;  cii.  19 ;  Jer.  xxv.  30 ;  Isa. 
xxxvii.  23.  These  j^assages  connect  the  word  with  the 
heavenly  mansions,  and  justify  the  application  of  the 
apostle.)  But,  leaving  the  subtleties  of  perverted  or 
perverting  criticism,  let  us  ask — 

(3)  What  is  there  taught  in  the  passage  ?  We  have, 
first  of  all,  the  glorious  truth  that  Jesus  Christ,  our 
Kinsman-Pedeemer,  has  entered,  in  our  name  and  na- 
ture, into  the  holiest  of  all,  there  to  appear  in  the  pres- 
ence of  God  for  us.  We  have  an  Advocate  with  the 
Father,  Jesus  Christ  the  righteous,  which,  though  of 
little  value  to  tlie  rationalists,  is  useful  to  us  who  be- 
lieve in  a  personal  God,  the  sinfulness  of  man  and  a 
future  judgment.  He  is  our  Forerunner,  and  there  is 
not  one  step  of  the  weary  way  which  he  has  not  conse- 
crated with  his  labors,  his  tears  and  his  blood  ;  not  one 
burden  which  he  has  not  borne ;  not  one  enemy  whom 
he  has  not  conquered ;  not  one  temptation  l)efore  which 


286  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

we  fall  which  he  did  not  resist ;  not  one  pang  of  mor- 
tal anguish  which  he  did  not  endure ;  and  now,  as  the 
Victor  and  royal  Prince,  he  dispenses  his  favors  to  his 
subject  people.  He  has  led  cajDtivity  captive — that  is, 
as  I  understand  it,  he  has  led  the  captivator  captive 
(Judg.  V.  12)  and  spoiled  the  principalities  and  powers 
(Col.  ii.  15)  which  led  us  into  the  bondage  of  sin  and 
death.  All  our  enemies  are  overthrown ;  sin,  death  and 
Satan,  our  conquerors,  are  led  captive  by  him ;  and  the 
immortal  Victor  has  taken  his  seat  at  the  right  hand 
of  the  Majesty  on  high.  But  then,  secondly,  he  has 
received  gifts  for  men — yea,  even  for  the  rebellious,  that 
the  Lord  God  might  dwell  among  them  (Ps.  ixviii.  18). 
Observe  the  three  Persons  of  the  Holy  Trinity  in  this 
verse — the  Father,  who  gives  the  gifts  ;  Jesus,  who  re- 
ceives them ;  and  the  dispensing  of  the  gifts  is  that  the 
Lord  God  (viz.,  the  Holy  Ghost,  John  xiv.  17 ;  1  John 
ii.  27;  Acts  ii.  33)  might  dwell  among  them  :  the  Giver, 
the  Mediator  and  the  Gift — ^the  Father,  the  Son  and  the 
Holy  Spirit.  It  is,  then,  the  doctrine  of  our  text  that 
Jesus,  the  ascended  Mediator,  has  gifts  for  men — yea,, 
for  the  rebellious.  It  is  surely  a  sweet  and  pleasant 
doctrine  that  we  may  supply  all  our  needs  out  of  a 
Brother's  fullness  and  tell  all  our  sorrows  into  a 
Brother's  ear.  We  know  each  other.  In  the  wastes 
of  the  infinite  unknown,  in  the  solitudes  of  the  un- 
fathomable eternity,  there  is  one  attracting  point,  one 
converging  centre,  where  human  hearts  can  find  sym- 
pathy and  a  home. 

"  When  I  rise  to  worlds  unknown, 
See  thee  on  thy  judgment-throne, 
Rock  of  ages,  cleft  for  me, 
Let  me  hide  myself  in  thee." 


CHAPTER    IV.     VERSES   1-16.  287 

But  let  US  dwell  a  little  longer  on  this  delightful 
theme,  for  surely,  as  sinful,  needy  creatures,  these  gifts 
are  exactly  what  we  need.  He  has  gifts  for  men.  The 
charismata,  or  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  are  treasured 
up  in  him  ;  in  him  dwelleth  all  the  fullness  of  the 
Godhead  bodily,  and  he  is  the  head  of  all  principality 
and  power  for  the  very  purpose  of  satisfying,  govern- 
ing and  blessing  the  creation.  Come,  then ;  ask  and 
receive,  that  your  joy  may  be  full. 

But  He  that  ascended  is  the  same  who  descended  first 
into  the  lower  parts  of  the  earth ;  and  the  question  to 
be  asked  and  answered  is  this :  ''  What  are  these  lower 
parts  of  the  earth  ?"  Possibly  it  means  the  womb  of 
the  Virgin  Mary  (Ps.  cxxxix.  15),  possibly  the  grave 
(Ps.  ]xiii.  9  ;  Isa.  x]iv.  23),  for  the  words  may  be  ap- 
plied to  both.  Many  of  the  ancients  and  most  of  the 
papists  refer  it  to  the  descent  into  hell  mentioned  in  the 
creed,  and  expound  it  of  the  lower  world,  the  invisible 
world.  Hades  or  |erlia|s  of  purgatory.  There  is  noth- 
ing of  this,  howevei",  in  the  text,  and  the  opinion,  since 
the  days  of  Bishop  Pearson,  has  been  exploded.  The 
Greek  word  for  parts  is  probably  a  mere  gloss,  and  is 
wanting  in  many  manuscripts.  Tischendorf  rejects  it. 
The  contrast  is  between  heaven  and  earth,  not  between 
the  higher  and  the  lower  parts  of  the  earth ;  and  the 
genitive,  of  the  earth,  is  the  genitive  of  explanation, 
thus :  He  descended  into  the  lower  regions  of  the  earth 
— the  lower  earthly  regions  as  contrasted  with  the  heav- 
enly throne  and  glory.  This  world  is  the  scene  of  his 
birth,  life,  death  and  resurrection.  He  left  his  glory 
and  came  to  this  lower  world,  and,  having  finished  his 
work  of  redemption,  he  ascended  up  far  above  all  heav- 
ens that  he  might  fill  all  things.    He  is  the  same  glori- 


288  GKAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

ous  Being  in  all  these  conditions,  and  gathers  around 
him  at  every  step  of  the  divine  procedure  the  sym- 
])athies  and  destinies  of  the  temporal  and  eternal 
worlds.  He  is  exalted  far  above  all  heavens.  The 
Scripture  seems  to  exhaust  language  in  describing  the 
glory  and  majesty  of  the  risen  and  ascended  Lord 
(1  Tim.  iii.  16 ;  Heb.  iv.  14  ;  vii.  26 ;  viii.  1 ;  ix.  24 ; 
Eph.  i.  21). 

This  mighty  ac  of  God  includes  in  itself  and  draws 
after  it  many  important  doctrines  and  consequences 
which  throw  a  flood  of  light  on  the  progress  and 
character  of  the  divine  administration.  Man  is  shown 
to  be  the  ruling  creature  in  the  dominions  of  God,  for 
the  Son  of  man,  the  Forerunner  and  Heir,  is  by  the 
power  and  will  of  the  supreme  God  placed  on  the 
throne  of  creation.  It  follows  as  a  necessary  conse- 
quence that  redemption  is  a  wondrous  work ;  that 
sin,  which  redemption  expunges,  is  indeed  very  sinful ; 
that  love  eternal  guides  the  ways  of  Providence,  even 
when  darkness  fills  the  sky  and  tempests  desolate  the 
world ;  and  that  the  worth  of  the  human  soul  and  the 
dignity  of  man,  as  well  as  the  destiny  that  awaits  him, 
are  exceedingly  high  and  glorious.  All  this  flows 
from  the  great  fact  of  facts  that  the  Son  of  man  is 
on  the  throne  of  God  :  *'  that  he  might  fill  all  things  " 
— fill  the  vast  universe  with  his  presence,  his  holiness, 
his  gifts  and  his  glory.  Ta  panta  or  to  pan — "the 
all,"  the  whole  universe — is  the  structure  or  temple 
into  which  the  risen  Redeemer  has  ascended  that  he 
might  breathe  into  it  the  vigor  and  beauty  of  his  own 
immortal  life.  The  idea  is  wonderful  and  worthy  of 
the  conception  of  God.  The  universe  is  to  be  estab- 
lished  and    headed   up    (Eph.    i.    10),   governed   and 


CHAPTER    IV.     VERSES   1-16.  289 

guided  through  eternity,  hy  the  will  and  power  and 
wisdom  of  the  God-Man.  The  creation  and  the 
Creator  are  united  in  one  Head. 

Or  are  we,  with  Bloomfield,  to  take  the  neuter,  "  all 
things,"  for  the  masculine,  "  all  persons  "  ?  Then  the 
purpose  of  the  ascension  is  to  fill  all  the  offices  of  the 
Church,  as  well  as  all  the  members  of  his  body,  with 
the  gifts  and  graces  of  the  Holy  Spirit  according  to  his 
will.  Or  if,  with  St.  Bernard,  we  take  the  verb  in  the 
sense  of  "  to  fulfill "  (Mark  i.  15 ;  Matt.  ii.  17 ;  Acts 
xiii.  27  ;  John  xii.  38) ,  then  the  Son  of  man  is  ascended 
to  fulfill  all  the  prophecies  and  promises  which  remain 
to  be  accom^ished. 

XII.  The  New-Testament  Ministers. 

And  he  gave  some,  apostles  ;  and  some,  propJiets  ;  and 
some,  evangelists;  and  some,  pastors  and  teachers;  for 
the  perfecting  of  the  saints,  for  the  work  of  the  min- 
istry, for  the  edifyiyig  of  the  body  of  Chi^ist  (ver.  11, 

12). 

Jesus  Christ  is  here  again,  and  indeed  I  may  say 
e.ery where,  contemplated  as  the  fullness  of  God  {ple- 
roma,  John  i.  16  ;  Eph.  iii.  19 ;  i.  23 ;  Col.  i.  19 ;  ii.  9)  ; 
all  gifts  and  graces,  offices  and  office-bearers,  flow  from 
him.  He  is  the  Revealer  of  the  great  Father's  love  to 
his  children ;  and  for  this  purpose  he  has  in  both  his 
heavenly  and  earthly  estate,  but  especially  in  the 
former,  full  and  sovereign  control  over  everything 
which  directly  or  indirectly  concerns  his  purchased 
possession.  He  gave  gifts  to  men ;  he  dispenses  the 
ordinary  and  extraordinary  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
according  to  his  will  (Acts  ii.  33).  He  is  the  ruler  in 
his   own  house,  under  whose  hand    the  order  of  the 

37 


290  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

household  [econonuj)  pr  )C(3eds.  This  same  divine  action 
is  attributed  to  God  (1  Cor.  xii.  28;  2  Cor.  iii.  6),  and 
yet  the  Holy  Ghost  is  the  Author  and  Giver  of  all  the 
gifts  and  endowments  of  the  Church  (1  Cor.  xii.  1-11). 
8o  that  the  three  Persons  of  the  Godhead  are  in  every 
possible  way  connected  wdth  the  forming  and  perfecting 
of  the  body  of  Christ. 

^' He  gave  some,  apost/es" — viz.,  he  appointed  some  to  be 
apostles ;  he  separated  and  ordained  them  to  be  apostles. 
(See  John  vii.  19 ;  Gal.  iii.  21 ;  Acts  vii.  8 ;  John  vi. 
22.)  So  the  Hebrews  use  give  for  "  appoint "  or 
"ordain"  (Josh.  xxiv.  26).  (Comp.  the  wider  use  of 
"give,"  Ezra  ix.  11;  see  also  Num.  xxv.  12;  Gen. 
xvii.  2  ;  Lev.  xxvi.  1,  where  the  Sej)tuagint  has  "  place  " 
for  the  Hebrew  "  give.")  These  apostles,  so  given, 
consecrated  and  sent  by  him,  formed  the  noblest 
institute  the  world  ever  saw.  They  were  in  the  strict 
sense  of  the  term  sent  ones — the  apostles  of  Christ. 
And  he  was  the  Apostle  of  God :  he  saw  and  bore 
witness  for  God ;  they  saw  and  bore  witness  for  Christ. 
He  called  them,  named  them,  endow^ed  them,  and 
then  sent  them  forth  as  his  heralds  and  ambassadors 
to  announce  the  kingdom  of  heaven  to  all  nations. 
They  were,  on  the  whole,  poor,  illiterate,  uneducated 
men,  fishermen  and  tentmakers ;  yet  he  made  them 
such  instruments  of  truth  and  wisdom  that  from  their 
lips  nations  might  learn  righteousness  and  senators 
and  kings  wisdom.  They  changed  the  face  of  the 
world,  and  by  the  power  of  truth  and  patience  and 
courage  unto  death  they  laid  the  foundations  of  a  moral 
kingdom  of  righteousness  and  peace  and  joy  in  the 
Holy  Ghost.  Their  letters  differ  as  much  from  those 
of  Cicero  as  the  kingdom  of  heaven  differs  from  the 


CHAPTER  IV.     VERSES   1-16.  291 

Koman  empire.  Truth  and  wisdom  shine  forth  in 
their  writings,  while  their  conduct,  their  mode  of  life, 
their  disregard  of  danger  and  death  in  their  path  of 
duty,  their  calmness  in  moments  of  perplexity,  their 
noble  bearing  on  all  occasions,  reveal  a  clearness  of 
judgment  and  a  certainty  of  conviction  which  astonish 
and  attract  the  heart.  They  are  the  poorest  and  most 
miserable  of  men  (1  Cor.  iv.  13),  and  yet  heavenly 
treasures  are  dispensed  by  their  hands ;  they  are  in 
want  of  the  common  necessaries  of  life,  while  yet  they 
go  about  })reaching  glad  tidings  to  every  creature, 
healing  the  sick,  raising  the  dead  to  life  again  and 
communicating  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit  by  "  the 
laying  on  of  their  hands."  You  see  no  oddities  about 
these  men,  though  they  are  altogether  peculiar.  Their 
holiness  burns  with  a  bright,  steady  light,  and  their 
path  is  ever  the  golden  medium  of  well-balanced 
minds.  They  are  to  be  found  neither  in  the  cell  of 
the  anchorite  nor  on  the  pillar  of  Simeon.  All  that 
which  most  attracts  vulgar  minds  has  passed  away, 
and  in  all  their  poverty,  meanness  of  origin  and 
calling  they  stand  forth  before  the  eye  and  the  admi- 
ration of  mankind  as  the  purest  patriots,  the  most 
accomplished  teachers,  the  most  patient  sufferers,  the 
most  triumphant  conquerors  in  a  moral  sense,  the  most 
faithful  preachers  of  the  cross,  the  most  fearless  ambas- 
sadors and  the  most  glorious  martyrs  which  the  world 
ever  saw. 

Had  they  any  successors  ?  In  the  strict  sense  of 
the  word,  none.  They  had  seen  the  Lord ;  they  had 
touched  and  handled  his  risen  body.  He  had  breathed 
into  them  the  Holy  Spirit,  given  them  their  commission 
visibly  and  audibly,  and  they  were   actually  enabled 


292  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

to  work  miracles  and  communicate  the  Holy  Ghoi^t 
When  their  pretended  successors  do  these  things,  we 
shall  listen  to  their  claims.  Will  any  reasonable  man 
believe  there  is  more  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  Italy  than 
in  England  or  in  Scotland?  Certainly  ignorance, 
tyranny,  falsehood,  lying  wonders,  sweating  statues, 
image-worship,  Mariolatry,  are  no  signs  of  the  special 
presence  of  the  divine  Spirit ! 

But  "Ae  gave  some,  prophets^  On  prophets  and 
prophecy,  see  Luke  i.  76 ;  iv.  24 ;  xiii.  33 ;  Matt.  xvi. 
4 ;  John  vii.  52 ;  also  2  Pet.  i.  20,  21 ;  Rev.  i.  3 ;  xix. 
10;  xxii.  7,  10;  1  Tim.  i.  18;  iv  14. 

The  noblest,  tliough  not  the  greatest,  function  of  the 
prophet  is  to  foretell  future  events  ;  hence  the  prophets 
of  the  Old  Testament  unfolded  the  destiny  of  the  na- 
tion and  announced  the  time,  the  character,  the  birth, 
life,  death  and  kingdom,  of  the  coming  Deliverer. 
Jesus  is  the  Prophet  of  God,  the  last,  best  and  fullest 
Revealer  of  the  invisible  Jehovah,  and  the  Church 
which  is  founded  on  him  has  a  prophetic  as  well  as 
an  historic  aspect.  The  future  is  as  certain  and  as 
nearly  related  to  us  as  the  past,  and  to  feed  the  fac- 
ulty of  hope  God  has  given  prophecy.  We  can  as 
little  cease  to  hope  as  cease  to  remember ;  and,  while 
the  apostle  testifies  to  a  risen  Saviour  and  redemption 
finished,  the  prophetic  cry,  ''Behold,  he  cometh!"  directs 
the  eye  to  the  purchased  inheritance  and  the  kingdom 
of  glory.  There  may  be  prophecy  and  inspiration  with- 
out the  foretelling  of  future  events ;  and,  indeed,  the 
greater  part  of  the  prophetic  office  might  he  exercised 
without  it.  The  office  is,  however,  named  and  charac- 
terized by  the  nobler  functions  of  it.  Those,  therefore, 
who  possessed  an  abundance  of  the  gifts  of  the  Holy 


CHAPTEK    IV.     VERSES   1-16.  293 

Ghost,  and  uttered  the  mind  of  God  most  clearly  in 
warning,  entreaty,  prayer  and  praise,  may  be  styled 
prophets  in  the  New  Testament.  They  are  filled  with 
the  SjDirit,  walk  in  the  Spirit,  speak  in  the  Spirit — not 
the  well-arranged  utterances  of  human  wisdom,  but 
words  of  divine  love  as  they  flow  from  the  Foun tain- 
Head  ;  and  the  indwelling  Quickener  may  at  any 
moment  open  the  eye  of  faith  to  visions  of  the  most 
distant  future. 

'^^He  gave  some,  evangelists^  These  were  the  mis- 
sionaries of  the  apostolic  Church.  Their  office  was 
to  preach ;  their  field  was  the  world,  and  their  mes- 
sage to  the  nations  was  a  kingdom  of  righteousness 
and  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  This  office 
shows  the  aspect  which  the  Church  bears  to  heathen- 
ism, and  holds  up  to  view  the  duty  of  sending  the 
gospel  to  the  heathen  nations.  We  are  built  upon 
apostolic  doctrines,  guided  by  prophetic  hopes  and 
urged  on  by  evangelistic  labors  into  all  the  regions 
of  the  world.  While  the  Church  of  the  Redeemer 
continues  in  a  sound,  healthy  condition  the  divine 
life  within  her  must  ever  be  impelling  some  of  her 
members  "  to  w  atch  in  all  things,  endure  difficulties, 
do  the  work  of  an  evangelist  and  make  full  proof  of 
the  ministry"  among  the  benighted  heathen.  These 
are  the  pioneers  of  the  host  to  break  up  the  way  for 
settled  pastors  and  teachers — heralds  to  prepare  the 
way  for  the  kingdom,  as  John  the  Baptist  prepared 
the  way  for  the  King  himself.  These  are  the  safety- 
valves  for  the  Church's  overflowing  fullness,  the  golden 
pipes  to  conduct  the  oil  of  the  sanctuary  into  all  lands. 

"Shall  we  whose  souls  are  lighted 
With  wisdom  from  on  high — 


294  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

Shall  we  to  men  benighted 

The  lamp  of  life  deny? 
Salvation,  oh,  salvation ! 

The  joyful  sound  proclaim, 
Till  each  remotest  nation 

Has  learned  Messiah's  name." 

We  may  always  judge  of  the  vigor  of  a  Church  by 
the  amount  of  her  evangelistic  labors.  These  are 
streams  that  flow  from  the  fount  of  grace  within  her. 
Oh  how  delightful  to  see  the  Church  stretching  out  her 
arms  to  embrace  in  the  fold  of  Christ  the  whole  family 
of  man !  Go  forth,  ye  swift  messengers,  ye  evangelists 
of  peace  and  love !  Go  forth  from  the  camp  with  the 
cheers  of  the  witnessing  army,  and  in  the  name  of  God 
and  his  Anointed  do  battle  for  the  King  of  glory !  Go 
forth,  go  forth !  Scale  the  mountains,  swim  the  rivers, 
navigate  the  seas,  breast  the  storms,  and  let  the  voice 
of  divine  love  encircle  the  globe !  Love  is  unconquer- 
able, love  conquers  all  things ;  God  is  love,  and  ye  are 
tlie  messengers  of  God.  Go,  and  the  God  of  peace  go 
with  you  ! 

"i/e;  gave  some,  pastors  and  teachers."  The  article 
here  is  not  repeated  before  teachers,  and  therefore,  by 
the  doctrine  of  the  Greek  article,  the  pastors  and  teach- 
ers form  but  one  class ;  both  words  adjectival,  and  be- 
long to  some.  (As  examples  of  this  rule,  see  2  Cor.  i. 
3 ;  xi.  31 ;  Eph.  i.  3 ;  1  Thess.  i.  3 ;  Col.  i.  3 ;  Rev.  i. 
6  ;  1  Pet.  ii.  25.)  This  principle  seems  to  be  very  gen- 
eral in  the  New  Testament,  and  we  do  not  seek  to  dis- 
turb it,  though  the  seeming  exceptions  are  very  nu- 
]iierous.  We  take,  then,  these  two  words,  pastors  and 
teachers,  as  belonging  to  the  one  class,  called  elsewhere 
bishops  or  elders,  and  in  that  case  the  pastor  or  shep- 
herd character   would  describe  their   external   public 


CHAPTER   IV.    VERSES  1-16.  295 

office  as  guides  and  governors  of  the  Cliiirch,  while 
"  teacher "  or  "  doctor "  would  denote  their  relations 
to  the  Church  as  the  preachei-s  and  maintainers  of 
sound  doctrine  (Haiiess).  Calvin,  however,  and  Beza 
saw  no  such  distinction,  nor  did  they  recognize  the  law 
of  the  Greek  article  in  this  passage.  All  these  offices 
in  the  primitive  Church  were  filled  with  the  gifts  and 
graces  of  the  risen  Christ.  They  were  the  channels 
between  the  exalted  Son  of  man  and  his  suffering  mem- 
bers on  earth.  They  were  all  varieties  of  the  charismata 
(Rom.  xii.  G,  7  ;  1  Cor.  xii.  4,  7,  28 ;  1  Pet.  iv.  10)  or 
spiritual  gifts  with  which  the  apostolical  Church  was 
endowed  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints,  for  the  work 
of  the  ministry,  for  the  edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ. 
This  is  the  end  of  all  the  ministries  of  the  Spirit. 
Churches  and  church  offices  are  the  means  appointed 
by  God  for  the  diffusion  of  light  and  truth  among  the 
heathen  and  filling  the  earth  with  the  testimony  of  his 
love.  His  purpose  is  not  the  salvation  of  all  men,  but 
the  salvation  of  the  Church  which  is  his  body,  the  full- 
ness of  Him  that  filleth  all  in  all.  His  ascension  to  the 
throne  of  heaven  and  the  effusion  of  his  quickening 
Spirit,  as  well  as  his  incarnation  and  death  on  the 
cross,  are  intended  to  perfect  the  saints,  to  qualify  and 
uphold  a  spiritual  ministry  and  to  edify  the  body  of 
Christ.  The  Church,  the  body,  is  the  principal  thing, 
and  all  else  is  subordinate  and  subsidiary.  Its  edifica- 
tion is  the  great  work  and  purpose  of  God  on  earth, 
for  the  accomplishing  of  which  pastors  and  teachers, 
apostles,  prophets,  evangelists,  and  all  other  offices  and 
ministries,  have  been  appointed  of  the  Lord. 


296  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

XIII.  The  Time  and  the  Purpose. 

Till  we  all  come  in  the  unity  of  the  faith,  and  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God,  unto  a  perfect  man,  unto 
the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fullness  of  Ch7'ist :  thai 
we  hcTiceforth  be  no  more  children,  tossed  to  and  fro,  and 
carried  about  with  every  wi7id  of  doctrine,  by  the  sleight 
of  men,  and  cunning  craftiness,  whei'eby  they  lie  in  wait 
to  deceive  ;  but  speaking  the  truth  in  love,  may  grow  up 
into  him  in  all  things,  which  is  the  head,  even  Christ  : 
from  whom  the  whole  body  fitly  joined  together  and,  com- 
pacted by  that  which  every  joint  supplieth,  according  to 
the  effectual  working  in  the  measure  of  every  part,  mak- 
eth  increase  of  the  body  unto  the  edfying  of  itself  in  love 
(ver.  13-16). 

All  this  outfitting  of  the  Church  and  church  offices 
refers  clearly  to  a  preparatory  state,  and  not  to  the  rest 
which  the  Lord  hath  promised  his  people.  The  manna 
in  the  wilderness,  the  water  from  the  rock,  the  cloud  of 
jrlorv  and  the  tabernacle  were  true  si2;ns  of  the  unsettled 
and  wandering  condition  of  the  children  of  Israel ;  the 
rest  was  beyond  the  Jordan ;  they  had  much  to  hope 
for  even  under  the  direct  and  visible  leading  of  Jeho- 
vah. With  them,  as  with  us,  there  was  an  until, 
and  when  they  entered  the  Promised  Land  there  was 
also  an  until — a  hope  set  before  them,  even  the  coming 
of  the  promised  Deliverer,  the  King  of  righteousness, 
the  Shiloh,  to  whom  the  gathering  of  the  nations  should 
be ;  and  we  too,  upon  whom  the  ends  of  the  earth  have 
come,  we  who  have  seen  the  wonders  of  redeeming  love 
and  the  person  and  work  of  the  Messiah — we  have  our 
until.  We  wait  for  his  second  coming,  as  the  Jews  did 
for  his  first.     Memory  dwells  on  the  cross  with  its  par- 


CHAPTEK   IV.     VERSES  1-16.  297 

douing  love,  and  hope  anticipates  the  crown  of  glory ; 
our  nature,  like  Janus,  has  two  faces.  We  are  far  from 
satisfied  with  our  present  state,  and,  indeed,  it  is  prob- 
lematical whether  we  shall  ever  be  satisfied : 

"  Hope  springs  eternal  in  the  human  breast: 
Man  never  is,  but  always  to  be,  blest." 

Does  there,  then,  remain  an  until  in  the  heavens? 
By  all  means,  there  does ;  and  this  faculty,  as  I  judge, 
does  not  show  the  weakness,  but  the  glory,  of  our  na- 
ture, inasmuch  as  the  boundless  and  inefi'able  God  is  the 
great  and  only  end  of  our  longings — full  and  perfect 
conformity  to  his  image ;  and  I  see  no  reason  why  this 
moulding  of  character  and  enlargement  of  faculties 
should  not  go  on  for  ever, 

"  And  onward,  still  onward,  arising,  ascending. 
To  the  right  hand  of  power  and  joy  never  ending." 

(1)  The  unity  of  the  faith  is  what  we  are  to  be 
brought  to :  "  Till  we  all  come  to  the  unity  of  the 
faithr 

There  were  different  opinions  among  the  early  Chris- 
tians, as  there  are  at  present  among  us,  but  then,  as 
now,  the  working  of  the  one  Spirit  tends  to  bring  about 
unity.  There  is  at  present  an  approximation  to  this 
unity  of  faith,  though  it  is,  indeed,  very  far  from  being 
fully  realized,  nor  is  it  likely  to  be  so  while  the  papists 
retain  their  un-catholic  and  un-Ghristian  principles. 
Let  us  rejoice,  however,  that  the  principles  of  the  three 
creeds — the  Apostles',  the  Nicene  and  the  Athanasian 
— are  confessed  by  nearly  the  whole  of  Ghristendom. 
These  great  principles  are  the  central  points  of  the 
Christian  system,  and  it  is  consolatory  to  hear  them 
repeated  in  all  the  languages  of  the  world. 

38 


298  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

But  what  is  this  unity  ?  It  does  not  consist  in  all 
Christians  thinking  alike.  This  is  impossible,  and  the 
first  Christian  churches  were  as  different  from  one  an- 
other in  their  forms  and  ceremonies  as  the  present 
churches  are,  if  not  more  so,  and  they  had  no  visible 
earthly  head  to  unite  them  externally.  Charles  V. 
spent  his  life  in  attempting  to  make  the  Germans 
think  alike,  and  then  died  in  his  cell  sighing  over 
his  folly,  seeing  he  could  not  make  two  watches  gc 
alike.  This  is  not  the  unity  here  spoken  of.  Force 
cannot  give  unity  of  faith,  however  it  may  give  unity 
of  form.  We  must  come  into  this  unity,  and  cannot 
be  driven  into  it. 

Nor  is  this  unity  a  unity  of  outward  visible  organ- 
ization, in  which  one  form  of  government  must  neces- 
sarily prevail,  but  rather  the  unity  of  faithful,  loving 
hearts,  where  one  common  spirit  leads  them  all  to  the 
same  throne  of  grace.  There  may  be  many  folds  and 
yet  but  one  flock  (John  x.  16.  For  the  seco7id  "  fold," 
read  "flock").  There  maybe  great  unity  in  respect 
of  dogmas  where  there  is  no  faith  at  all,  and  conse- 
quently no  unity  of  faith.  I  may  believe  much  about 
a  person,  and  not  believe  on  him.  To  believe  on  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  to  put  our  trust  in  him,  and  this 
we  may  do  without  knowing  much  of  dogmatic  the- 
ology ;  and  those  who  know  it  well  may  possibly  be 
without  saving  faith.  (For  the  Scripture  delineations 
of  pistis  ("faith"),  see  1  Cor.  xv.  14,  19;  Kom  i. 
17;  iii.  22,  25,  26;  ix.  30,  32;  x.  6 ;  Gal.  ii.  16,  20; 
iii.  2-24;  v.  6;  Eph.  ii.  8;  iii.  12;  Phil.  iii.  9.)  This 
faith  of  which  Paul  makes  so  much  of  is  not  a  form 
sound  words,  nor  a  vinculum  between  ideas  and  real- 
ities, nor  a  bare  assent  to  the  truth  of  the  Bible,  nor  a 


CHAPTER    IV.    VERSES   1-16.  299 

holding  earnestly  what  you  do  hold,  whether  true  or 
false  (Carlylism),  nor  an  exaggerated  view  of  the  be- 
nevolence of  God  (Broad  Church),  nor  simple,  abso- 
lute assurance  of  salvation  (first  Reformers),  but  a 
holy,  joyful,  conscious  resting  of  the  soul  on  Christ 
and  his  finished  work ;  and  I  maintain  that  as  the 
divine  life  of  the  soul  it  may  breathe  and  burn  in  all 
the  sects  and  churches  of  the  Reformation  as  freely 
and  as  fully  as  it  did  in  the  apostolic  ages.  The  mem- 
bers of  Christ  have  the  unity  of  the  faith,  however 
divided  by  time  and  place  and  external  forms.  The 
Spirit's  work  is  to  make  believers  one  by  directing 
them  all  to  the  one  centre — Christ ;  by  setting  before 
them  all  the  one  aim — his  glory ;  by  arraying  them 
all  against  one  enemy — sin ;  and  by  animating  them 
all  with  one  hope — that  of  his  coming  and  kingdom. 
(2)  But  we  are  to  come,  secondly,  into  the  unity  of 
the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God.  This  knowledge  is 
therefore  something  higher  and  more  difficult  to  attain 
than  the  unity  of  faith.  Faith  is,  indeed,  very  simple, 
and  is  therefore  the  fit  and  common  bond  to  unite  the 
soul  with  Jesus.  It  is  the  blood  in  the  body,  it  is  the 
sap  in  the  vine,  it  is  the  cement  in  the  living  temple 
of  God.  Some  are  learned,  and  some  are  ignorant ; 
some  are  babes,  and  some  are  fathers ;  but  they  all 
have  faith,  and  by  it  they  are  all  united  to  the  Con- 
queror in  heaven.  But  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of 
God — ^that  is  indeed  a  fountain  of  infinite  depth  and 
fullness ;  and  the  effort  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  his  ordi- 
nances and  offices  is  to  lead  us  more  and  more  into  it ; 
to  reveal  more  and  more  of  the  glories  of  his  charac- 
ter ;  to  open  more  and  more  the  doors  of  our  hearts 
that  we  may  receive  and  comprehend  more  and  more 


300  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

of  his  love;  to  unfold  to  the  Church  here  and  here- 
after, as  her  brightening  eye  and  enlarging  heart  can 
bear  it,  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  of  knowledge,  of 
truth  and  goodness  and  mercy,  which  the  Father  has 
secured  to  his  children  in  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  his 
love.  This  knowledge  is  too  high  for  me :  I  cannot 
attain  to  it ;  but  my  dim  eye  can  see  facts  and  forms 
of  boundless  significance  and  beauty  in  the  incarna- 
tion, the  atonement,  ascension  and  advent,  of  Christ. 
I  can  admire,  long  after  and  adore  the  person  of  the 
Son  of  God,  containing,  as  it  does,  all  mysteries,  rec- 
onciling, as  it  does,  all  diversities,  and  uniting,  as  it 
does,  for  ever  and  ever,  the  Creator  and  his  creation ; 
but  no  man  nor  angel  can  ever  comprehend  the  oceans 
of  tenderness  and  mercy  which  lie  in  and  beyond  these 
outward  manifestations  of  his  grace. 

But  what  is  the  meaning  of  the  phrase  "  the  Son  of 
Qod^'^l  This,  in  the  Greek,  may  have  four  varieties, 
arisino;  from  the  use  or  the  omission  of  the  article. 
Both  nouns  may  be  articulated,  as  here ;  both  may  be 
unarticulated ;  the  first  may  be  articulated,  and  the 
second  not;  the  second  may  be  articulated,  and  the 
first  not.  Three  of  these  forms  are  found  in  the  New 
Testament,  and  two  are  found  very  often.  All  these 
are  essentially  of  the  same  significance  and  point  to 
the  divinity  of  his  nature.  He  is  the  Son,  the  Son  of 
God,  the  well-beloved  Son,  the  only-begotten  Son — 
names  and  forms  which  indicate  his  divine  nature. 
Son  of  man,  he  is  truly  man ;  son  of  Abraham,  he  is 
truly  a  Jew ;  son  of  David,  he  is  truly  royal ;  and  Son 
of  God,  he  is  truly  divine.  The  son  in  all  cases  has 
the  nature  of  his  father  (Matt,  xi.  27 ;  Luke  x.  22 ; 
John  i,   14;    x.  33-36),  and  hence   he   is    compared. 


CHAPTER  IV.    VERSES   1-16.  301 

contrasted  and  united  with  the  Father  in  all  possible 
ways  (Matt,  xxviii.  19 ;  Mark  xiii.  32 ;  John  v.  26 ; 
1  John  i.  3  ;  ii.  22  ;  iv.  14  ;  2  John  3).  We  may  dis- 
cover three  forms  or  degrees  in  his  Sonship.  His  eter- 
nal Sonship  is  the  basis  of  election,  his  Sonship  by  the 
Holy  Ghost  (Luke  i.  35)  is  the  basis  of  regeneration, 
and  his  Sonship  from  the  grave  (Rev.  i.  5 ;  Col.  i.  18, 
etc.)  is  the  form  and  fountain-head  of  the  first  resur- 
rection. All  this  is  in  keeping  with  the  value  set  upon 
the  title  "  Son  of  God  "  in  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

(3)  We  are  to  come  '' imto  a  perfect  man,  unto  the 
measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fullness  of  Christ^  The 
Church  is  here  compared  to  the  human  body,  which 
proceeds  from  the  first  germ  of  life  through  many 
stages  into  the  full-grown  man.  We  are  not  to  lay 
again  the  first  principles,  but  go  on  to  perfection 
(Heb.  vi.  1).  Our  Master  will  have  us  men  in  knowl- 
edge, in  labor  and  in  love,  and  cliildren  only  in 
malice  and  wickedness  (1  Cor.  ii.  6;  iii.  1).  We  ought 
not  to  be  contented  with  anything  less  than  perfection 
— even  the  perfection  of  C'hrist;  for,  however  far  we 
may  be  from  attaining  it,  our  actual  progress  must 
keep  pace  with  our  efforts  to  follow  the  perfect  One. 

This  perfection  is  further  explained  by  the  words 
"  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fullness  of 
Christ."  The  word  for  stature,  as  is  well  known,  means 
"full  age"  (John  ix.  21;  Heb.  xi.  11;  Luke  ii.  52) 
and  "  full  stature  "  (Matt.  vi.  27 ;  Luke  xii.  25 ;  xix. 
3).  The  Reformers  generally  translate,  as  w^e  do, 
"  stature,"  and  the  modern  commentators  mostly  prefer 
"  age."  The  difference  is  inconsiderable,  and  in  either 
case  the  sense  is  good.  He  will  have  the  Church  of 
ftill  age  and  of  full  size.     The  measure  of  the  fullness 


302  GRAHAM   ON   EPHESIANS. 

{pleroma)  I  take  to  be  the  treasures  of  grace  which 
God  has  laid  up  for  us  in  the  Christ.  We  are  to  come 
to  a  size  and  a  maturity  in  our  Christian  life  worthy 
of  the  gracious  fullness  of  Christ.  This  is  the  noble 
effort  of  the  Christian  mind,  ever  to  walk  worthy  of 
the  gospel  of  Christ.  He  thinks  not  of  how  much 
sin  and  weakness  and  worldly-mindedness  he  may 
retain  without  being  shut  out  of  heaven,  but  of  how 
much  purity,  holiness  and  heavenly-mindedness  he 
can  enjoy  on  earth.  The  fullness  of  Christ,  which  is 
the  whole  fullness  of  the  Godhead  bodily,  is  at  his  dis- 
posal to  assist  him  in  trials,  strengthen  him  in  tempta- 
tions and  make  him  victorious  over  all  his  enemies. 
The  one  bright  image  of  his  Lord  and  Master  is  ever 
before  him,  and  he  presses  forward  along  the  mark  for 
the  prize  of  his  high  calling.  How  great  is  this  full- 
ness of  Christ!  Grace,  love,  compassion,  condescen- 
sion, mercy  and  divine  power,  honor,  righteousness 
and  eternal  glory,  are  treasured  up  in  him  in  infinite 
abundance  for  all  the  wants  of  his  people.  Then  yield 
to  the  enemy  no  more.  Bear  the  burdens  of  the  devil 
no  longer.  Be  men — men  of  age  and  stature — and 
show  the  Church  and  the  world  what  grace  can  make 
you.  Saints  are  around  you,  martyrs  are  above  like  a 
cloud,  and  Jesus  is  before  you  to  lead  you  on.  Let  us 
remember  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fullness  of 
Christ,  and  press  forward  in  our  Christian  course, 

"  That  to  perfection's  sacred  height 
We  nearer  still  may  rise, 
And  all  we  do,  and  all  we  say, 
Be  pleasing  in  his  eyes." 

(4)   Now,    then,  being  thus   equipped,  we   ;ire  able 
(in   the   fourteenth    verse)    to    contemplate    Christian 


CHAPTER    IV.    VERSES   1-16.  303 

steadfastness.  Our  food  is  no  longer  milk,  our  pleas- 
ures are  no  longer  childish  (1  Cor.  xiii.  11),  the  tutors 
and  governors  have  done  with  us,  and  we  stand  forth 
in  the  cause  of  Christ  as  fearless  soldiers  of  the  cross — 
no  longer  babes,  infants,  children,  tossed  to  and  fro 
and  carried  about  with  every  wind  of  doctrine.  The 
figure  is  beautiful  and  very  expressive.  If  it  w^ere 
found  in  Homer,  Virgil  or  Longiims,  there  Avould 
have  been  notes  and  dissertations  upon  it.  See  the 
unstable,  restless  billows  of  the  sea !  how  they  rise  and 
fall  and  swell  and  surge  over  the  rocks !  They  are 
ever  on  the  move ;  you  cannot  calculate  on  them. 
Such  is  a  child ;  all  things  are  new  to  it,  and  the 
childish  fancy  changes  like  the  waves  and  the  winds. 
(See  Isa.  xxviii.  9 ;  Matt.  xi.  7  ;  1  Cor.  xiv.  20 ;  Heb. 
xiii.  9.)  In  this  respect  ye  must  be  children  no  more ; 
ye  are  no  more  like  the  changeable  waves,  but  the 
firm  rock  that  resists  them.  Jesus  is  the  Rock  of 
ages,  and  ye,  being  built  upon  him,  share  his  strength 
and  steadfastness.  Your  prayers,  your  faith  and  your 
hopes  must  partake  of  the  certainty  and  firmness  of 
unchangeable  truth,  for  he  that  wavereth  is  like  a  wave 
of  the  sea  and  need  not  expect  the  blessing  of  the  Lord 
(James  i.  6).  We  admire  the  firmness  of  the  ancient 
Romans,  but  how  much  more  admirable  is  the  firmness 
of  honest,  intelligent  Christian  men  in  the  full  and 
fearless  assertion  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  especially 
when  it  is  the  firmness  of  unresisting  love  bearing  up 
against,  and  even  in  suffering  and  death  triumphing 
over,  the  cruelty  and  wrath  of  the  persecutor !  This 
inflexible  firmness  of  the  Christian  consciousness  it  is 
which  in  the  apostolic  ages  triumphed  over  heathenism 
and  planted  the  banner  of  the  cross  on  the  imperial 


304  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

throne;  which  in  the  days  of  our  venerated  fathers 
pulled  down  the  immense  fabric  of  papal  superstition 
in  Britain  and  won  for  it  and  the  world  the  principle 
of  religious  liberty ;  which  then  and  now,  and  for  ever, 
must  awaken  and  sustain  the  hostility  of  a  sin-loving 
and  God-forgetting  world.  There  are  deceivers  abroad 
(says  the  apostle),  who  with  the  trickery  and  cunning  of 
gamesters  *  lay  their  plans  to  seduce  you  from  the  sim- 
plicity of  Christ.  Such  existed  in  the  primitive  times, 
and  such  exist  still — men  of  corrupt  minds  who  delight 
to  seduce  the  innocent,  and  who  forget  or  disbelieve 
that  there  is  a  God  that  judgeth  in  the  earth.  Stand 
fast,  therefore,  against  these  corrupters,  and  show  them 
that  if  in  malice  ye  are  children,  yet  in  steadfastness 
ye  are  men. 

(5)  Speaking  the  truth  in  love.  The  Greek  verb 
here  has  been  variously  translated.  Jerome  has 
'^^ Doing  the  truth  in  love  f  Beza,  ''''Carrying  yourselves 
in  charity  f  Lutlier,  "'Genuine  in  love  f  De  Wette, 
"0/  the  truth,  studious  in  love  f  Osterwald  and  Mar- 
tin, "Following  the  truth  in  love  ;"  Desacy,  ''''Practicing 
the  truth  in  love^  Those  who  wish  to  see  more  vari- 
eties of  exposition  or  translation  may  consult  Harless. 
(See  Gal.  iv.  16 ;  comp.  the  Septuagint,  Gen.  xlii.  16 ; 
Isa.  xliv.  26.) 

Speaking  the  truth  in  love,  acting  out  the  truth  in 
love,  is  opposed  to  the  changing  principles  of  falsehood, 
which  make  men  as  unstable  as  the  waves  of  the  sea. 
If  church-officers  be  in  the  mind  of  the  apostle,  then 
truth  is  the  object  and  the  end  of  their  ministrations ; 
if  the  members  of  the  church,  then,  too,  truth  is  the 

*  Kubeia,  "  a  game  at  dice."     The  root  is  the  Arabic  Caab,  wheuce 
"  cube,"  and  the  "  Caaba  "  of  the  BeituUah  in  Mecca. 


CHAPTER   IV.    VERSES  1-16.  305 

pearl  of  great  price,  for  which  they  are  to  sell  all  that 
they  have  that  they  may  purchase.  This  speaking 
the  truth  in  love  is  the  means  of  their  edification — that 
is,  their  growing  up  into  him  in  all  things  which  is  the 
Head,  even  Christ.  But  remember  that  this  speaking, 
or  acting  out,  the  truth  must  be  in  love  ;  otherwise,  the 
effect  is  entirely  lost.  Truth  spoken  in  bitterness 
works  no  conviction  in  the  conscience.  Charity  edi- 
fieth.  Truth  spoken  in  love  is  the  balm  to  soothe 
broken  hearts ;  it  is  the  oil  of  the  good  Samaritan  to 
calm  the  troubled  waters  of  the  wounded  spirit.  This 
is  the  sap  of  the  vine,  the  cement  that  binds  together 
the  stones  of  the  living  temple,  the  truth  spoken  in 
love.  God  is  the  God  of  truth ;  Jesus  is  the  way,  the 
truth  and  the  life ;  the  Bible  is  the  word  of  truth,  and 
everything  in  Scripture  tends  to  magnify  and  enhance 
the  value  of  truth.  Be  this,  then,  the  principle  of 
your  walk  and  conversation  among  men — to  speak 
the  truth  in  love ;  and,  doing  so,  we  may  be  sure  that 
we  shall  grow  up  into  the  fellowship  of  the  risen  Head. 

(6)  We  com"  now  to  the  sixteenth  verse,  which  un- 
folds the  principle  of  the  Head  and  the  body,  already 
mentioned  largely  in  our  chapter,  but  ever  recurring 
in  the  writings  of  Paul.  Christ  is  the  Head,  and  be- 
lievers are  the  members  of  his  body  (1  Cor.  xi.  3 ;  xii. 
27;  Eph.  i.  22;  iv.  15;  v.  23;  Col.  i.  18;  ii.  10,  19). 

The  obvious  truths  contained  in  this  figure  are  the 
following : 

First.  That  there  is  complete  and  absolute  distinction 
between  the  Church  and  the  world ;  they  are,  in  time 
and  in  eternity,  as  distinct  from  each  other  as  any  two 
corporations  can  be. 

Secondly.  The  visible  churches  of  Christendom  are 

39 


300  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

not  the  body  of  Christ ;  they  contain  the  members  of 
it,  but  the  vast  mass  of  baptized  unbelievers  cannot,  ex- 
cept in  a  very  wide  sense,  be  said  to  belong  to  the  body 
of  Christ. 

Thirdly.  We  become  members  of  Christ  by  faith  in 
his  name,  ?.nd  this  union  is  the  great  truth  expressed 
by  the  various  terms  "  conversion,"  "  repentance,"  "  new 
nature,"  "  new  birth,"  "  new  life,"  etc. 

Fourthly.  We  are  strong  in  faith,  warm  in  our  affec- 
tions, pure,  peaceful  and  holy,  in  proportion  as  we 
realize  our  position  and  standing  as  members  of  our 
risen  Head.  Conscious  communion  with  him  and 
through  him  is  the  source  of  a  serene  and  joyful 
Christian  walk. 

Fifthly.  This  is  a  growing  union ;  the  relations  be- 
tween the  soul  and  the  Saviour  become  closer  as  we 
know  and  enjoy  more  of  his  love.  The  more  we  drink 
from  the  ocean  of  his  fullness,  the  more  we  desire  to 
drink.  His  love  in  us  is  at  first  only  a  spark,  but,  be- 
ing nourished  and  fed  with  oil  from  the  sanctuary,  it 
becomes  a  flame  which  nothing  can  extinguish. 

May  we  realize  the  dignity  and  responsibility  of  our 
position !  We  are  joined  with  the  Conqueror  at  the 
right  hand  of  God.  Let  us  tread  this  earth  lightly, 
knowing  that  our  heart  and  our  treasure  and  our 
home  are  in  heaven. 

"  The  Saviour  lives,  no  more  to  die ; 
He  lives,  the  Lord  enthroned  on  high ; 
He  lives,  triumphant  o'er  the  grave; 
He  lives  eternally  to  save. 
He  lives  to  still  his;  ])eople's  fears ; 
He  lives  to  wipe  away  their  tears; 
He  lives  their  mansions  to  prepare; 
He  lives  to  bring  them  safely  there." 


CHAPTEK   IX. 

This  I  say  therefore,  and  testify  in  the  Lord,  that  ye  henceforth  walk 
not  as  other  Gentiles  walk,  in  the  vanity  of  their  mind,  having  the  un- 
derstanding darkened,  being  alienated  from  the  life  of  God  through  the 
ignorance  that  is  in  them,  because  of  the  blindness  of  their  heart:  who 
being  past  feeling  have  given  themselves  over  unto  lasciviousness,  to 
work  all  uncleanness  with  greediness.  But  ye  have  not  so  learned 
Christ;  if  so  be  that  ye  have  heard  him,  and  have  been  taught  by  him, 
as  the  truth  is  in  Jesus  :  that  ye  put  off  concerning  the  former  conver- 
sation the  old  man,  which  is  corrupt  according  to  the  deceitful  lusts ; 
and  be  renewed  in  the  spirit  of  your  mind ;  and  that  ye  put  on  the  new 
man,  which  after  God  is  created  in  righteousness  and  true  holiness. 
Wherefore  putting  away  lying,  speak  every  man  truth  with  his  neigh- 
bor :  for  we  are  members  one  of  another.  Be  ye  angry  and  sin  not :  let 
not  the  sun  go  down  upon  your  wrath  :  neither  give  place  to  the  devil. 
Let  him  that  stole  steal  no  more :  but  rather  let  him  labor,  working  with 
his  hands  the  thing  which  is  good,  that  he  may  have  to  give  to  him  that 
needeth.  Let  no  corrupt  communication  proceed  out  of  your  mouth, 
but  that  which  is  good  to  the  use  of  edifying,  that  it  may  minister  grace 
unto  the  hearers.  And  grieve  not  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  whereby  ye 
are  sealed  unto  the  day  of  redemption.  Let  all  bitterness,  and  wrath, 
and  anger,  and  clamor,  and  evil-speaking,  be  put  away  from  you,  with 
all  malice :  and  be  ye  kind  one  to  another,  tenderhearted,  forgiving  one 
another,  even  as  God  for  Christ's  sake  hath  forgiven  you. — Ephesians 
iv.  17-32. 

This  fine  passage  refers  to  two  parties  and  delineates 
the  character  and  duties  which  belong  to  them  respect- 
ively, the  Gentiles  and  the  believing  Church — the  state 
of  heathenism  and  the  state  of  Christianity ;  in  other 
words,  what  the  Ephesians  had  been  and  what  grace 
had  made  them — our  condition  by  nature  and  our  gos- 

3(17 


308  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

pel  state.     The  first  we  find  described  in  ver.-es   17-19, 
and  to  it  we  must  first  turn  our  attention. 

I.   The  Walk  of  the  Gentiles — Nature. 

This  I  say  therefore,  a7id  testify  in  the  Lord,  that  ye 
henceforth  walk  not  as  other  Gentiles  walk,  in  the  vanity 
of  their  mind,  having  the  understanding  darkened,  be- 
ing alienated  from  the  life  of  God  through  the  ignorance 
that  is  in  them,  because  of  the  blindness  of  their  heart  : 
who  being  past  feeling  have  given  themselves  over  unto 
lasciviousness,  to  work  all  imcleanness  with  greediness 
(ver.  17-19). 

It  is  melancholy  to  look  abroad  uj)on  the  fair  and 
beautiful  world  which  God  pronounced  very  good  and 
find  poison  in  the  plants,  disease  and  death  in  the  at- 
mosphere, the  elemen  s  of  combustion  and  confusion 
slumbering  in  the  earth,  and  the  whole  form  and  come- 
liness of  nature  sullied  by  the  defilement  of  sin.  It  is 
still  more  melancholy  to  contemplate  the  history  of  man^ 
the  king  and  lord,  as  well  as  the  minister  and  inter- 
preter, of  Nature — a  history  not  of  beautiful  and  lov- 
ing obedience  to  God,  but  of  misery,  confusion,  moral 
degradation  and  death.  Almost  every  page  of  history 
is  reddened  with  the  blood  of  battles,  defeats  and  vic- 
tories. Gigantic  forms  of  evil  rise  si^ontaneously  in  the 
different  nations  out  of  the  human  heart,  and  shed  their 
corrupting  seeds  over  the  polluted  soul  which  produced 
them.  The  simple  instincts  of  our  moral  nature  be- 
come perverted  and  the  distinctions  between  good  and 
evil,  right  and  wrong,  are  confounded  under  the  influ- 
ence of  evil  habits  and  triumphant  crime.  Religion 
degenerates  into  idolatry,  and  the  erect  and  noble  form 
of  man  is  seen  bowing  down  to  the  work  of  his  own 


CHAPTER  IV.    VERSES  17-3*^  309 

hands.  The  thoughtful  who  are  capable  of  contemplat- 
ing the  frame  of  Nature  and  the  regularity  of  her  laws 
become  pantheists  and  altogether  reject  the  idea  of  a 
living,  personal  God.  The  ignorant  multitudes,  how- 
ever, feeling  their  weakness,  trembling  for  the  future 
and  knowing  that  they  must  die,  will  have  gods ;  their 
nature  is  religious,  and  the  corrupt  heart  will  produce 
gods  like  themselves.  "'Timor  fecit  deos  "  ("  Fear  made 
the  gods  "),  said  the  old  heathen  scoffer  ;  and  it  is  cer- 
tainly true  that  polytheism,  in  all  its  ramifications,  is 
the  counterpart  and  exponent  of  the  moral  condition 
of  the  nations.  The  worship  and  the  worshipers  cor- 
respond to  each  other  as  face  answers  to  face  in  a  glass. 
The  descending  scale  from  God  to  Nature  is  an  histor- 
ical fact  connecting  Adam  with  his  fallen  posterity ;  the 
ascent  from  Nature  U23  to  Nature's  God  is  a  metaphys- 
ical fiction  proved  historically  to  be  false  by  all  the  re- 
ligions of  heathenism.  The  only  vinculum  between  a 
holy  God  and  the  fallen  creation  is  revelation.  The 
conception  of  such  a  character  as  that  of  the  Son  of 
God  is  as  much  above  us  as  is  the  creation  of  the 
world.  In  the  midst  of  this  system  of  fallen  man- 
hood, which  for  ages  sent  forth  as  from  a  teeming 
fountain  its  corrupt  streams,  Christianity,  a  seed  of 
life  in  Judaism,  bursts  forth  in  the  Lord  and  his 
apostles  into  full  maturity  and  vigor.  Now  the  con- 
test begins  in  earnest,  and  the  warfare  between  light 
and  darkness  must  envelop  all  the  nations  of  the 
world.  "This  I  testify  in  the  Lord"  (a  solemn  as- 
severation), says  Paul,  "that  ye  walk  not  as  other 
Gentiles  walk." 

First.  In  the  vanity  of  their  mi7id.     This  is  the  first 
indictment   against   heathenism.      It   is   vain,   empty, 


310  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

fruitless.  There  is  nothing  substantial,  immortal, 
eternal,  in  it.  The  vanities  are  the  idols  (Acts  xiv. 
15)  which  the  nations  worship  instead  of  God,  who 
made  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  and  the  vain  conver- 
sation (1  Pet.  i.  18)  is  the  idolatrous  walk  which  we 
received  by  tradition  from  our  fathers.  So  the  He- 
brews used  vanities  for  the  false  gods  of  the  heathen 
( Jer.  viii.  19 ;  x.  8  ;  xiv.  22  ;  Eccl.  v.  6  ;  Deut.  xxxii. 
21 ;  1  Kings  xvi.  13;  Ps.  xxxi.  7  [in  Hebrew].  They 
made  their  idols,  they  worshiped  them  and  they  ex- 
pected blessings  from  them.  All  this  is  folly  and 
vanity.  God  alone  is  the  object  of  our  adoration, 
and  he  alone  can  hear  and  answer  our  prayers. 
The  oracles,  the  idols,  the  images,  which  the  nations 
venerate  are  lying  vanities  and  cannot  protect  their 
votaries  in  the  time  of  danger.  They  walk  in  the 
vanity  of  their  mind ;  they  have  no  true  notions  of 
the  nature,  majesty  and  perfections  of  God;  and,  know- 
ing nothing  really  greater  than  themselves,  they  are  be- 
come vainly  puffed  up  and  inflated.  Give  them  the 
knowledge  of  the  true  God  and  they  see  their  insig- 
nificance at  once. 

Second.  Having  the  understanding  darkened.  Go 
into  any  heathen  country  and  realize  this  picture. 
You  find  no  truth,  no  love  of  truth,  in  the  land ;  so 
that  in  courts  it  is  nearly  impossible  to  get  at  the  truth. 
Lying  is  not  considered  criminal,  and  truth-telling  is 
unnecessary  when  it  ceases  to  be  useful.  The  under- 
standing is  darkened ;  the  fountains  of  life  are  cor- 
rupted in  their  very  source,  and  all  the  foundations  of 
rectitude  and  morality  are  destroyed.  The  presence 
of  a  personal,  powerful,  all-seeing  God  is  wanted,  and 
no  fictions  of  the  mind  can  supply  its  place. 


CHAPTER   IV.     VERSP>i   17-32.  311 

Third.  Alienated  from  the  life  of  God  through  the 
ignorance  that  is  in  them,  because  of  the  blindness  of 
their  heart.  What  is  the  life  of  God  f  Some  say  it 
is  a  life  according  to  the  will  of  God ;  Calvin  makes  it 
regeneration  ;  and  Olshausen,  the  life  which  every  creat- 
ure has  while  it  remains  in  communion  with  God.  I 
understand  it  to  be  simply  the  life  w^liich  God  gives, 
which  seems  the  simplest  and  most  natural  meaning  of 
this  genitive.  "  Life,"  in  Scripture,  signifies  happiness, 
glory,  the  beatific  enjoyment  of  Jehovah  in  his  king- 
dom (Matt.  xix.  16,  17  ;  John  iii.  15,  16) ;  and  these  he 
graciously  promises  to  share  with  his  saints.  From  all 
this  they  are  alienated  through  the  ignorance  that  is 
in  them.  It  is  life  eternal  to  know  the  true  God  and 
Jesus  Christ  whom  he  has  sent  (John  xvii.  3).  This 
life  is  in  Jesus  Christ  our  Redeemer ;  and  till  the  Gen- 
tiles receive  him  they  remain  in  death,  and  the  wrath 
of  God  abideth  upon  them  (John  iii.  36).  What  a 
motive  for  the  missions  of  the  Church ! 

"Hark!  what  mean  those  lamentations 
Rolling  sadly  through  the  sky  ? 
'Tis  the  cry  of  heathen  nations : 
'Come  and  help  us  ere  we  die.' 

"  Christians,  hear  their  sad  complaining  ; 
Listen  to  their  dying  cry ; 
And,  the  love  of  Christ  consti'aining, 
Join  to  help  them  ere  they  die." 

This  is  not  the  cry  of  earnest  convicted  sinners  longing 
to  be  delivered  from  the  burden  of  transgression,  but 
the  dumb,  stupid  cry  of  millions  who  feel  little  or 
nothing  of  their  wretchedness  and  alienation  from  God. 
Fourth.  Blindness,  or  rather  hardness,  is  the  thicken- 
ing or  hardening  of  the  skin  till   it  becomes  callous ; 


il2  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

and  so,  says  the  apostle,  the  Gentiles  have  turned  into 
the  hardness  and  insensibility  of  stone  the  heart  which 
God  made  to  love  and  serve  him.  The  moral  sense  is 
extinguished ;  so  that  they  can  recognize  neither  their 
own  necessities  nor  the  claims  which  God  has  upon 
them.  This  is  an  awful  characteristic  of  the  heathen 
world,  and  calls  upon  us  to  send  them  the  gospel  of 
Him  who  is  eternal  love. 

"Shall  we  whose  souls  are  lighted 
With  wisdom  from  on  high — 
Shall  we  to  men  benighted 
The  lamp  of  life  deny?" 

Oh  no,  never!  These  darkened,  blinded  nations 
have  upon  us  a  thousand  claims  which  we  should  seek 
to  meet  before  we  stand  at  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ. 

Fifth.  Being  past  feeling  have  given  themselves  over 
unto  lasciviousness  (ver.  19) .  The  Greek  word  for  "  being 
past  feeling  "  signifies  to  grieve  out — to  have  done  with 
grieving  over  one's  actions,  so  that  all  sense  of  shame 
is  lost.  This  is  a  fearful  trait  of  character,  and  with 
unerring  skill  marks  the  polytheism  of  the  heathen. 
Read  their  literature  and  observe  how  deeply  immoral 
the  best  and  the  purest  of  their  writers  were.  Look 
at  the  monuments  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans  in  gen- 
eral, look  at  the  ruins  of  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii, 
and  think  how  scandalous  and  shameless  the  public 
manners  of  the  nation  must  have  been.  Or  enter  a 
heathen  temple  in  India  where  the  gods  are  to  be  wor- 
shiped, and  at  the  present  hour  you  behold  the  abom- 
inations of  Venus,  Baal  and  Astarte.  Shame  is  one 
of  the  first  feelings  of  childhood,  as  well  as  one  of  the 
strongest  of  our  manhood ;  and  when  we  have  become 


CHAPTER    IV.     VP:ESES   17-32.  313 

able  to  extinguish  it,  our  condition  is  morally  hope- 
less. The  beautiful  and  the  good  can  attract  us  no 
more.  Hence  the  natural  consequence  was  the  next 
step  in  the  climax — viz.,  they  gave  "  themselves  over 
unto  lasciviousness,  to  work  all  uncleanness  with  greed- 
iness."  A  fearful  picture,  truly  !  Every  word  is  em- 
phatic and  shows  the  dominion  which  sinful  habit 
had  acquired  over  them.  It  was  their  own  act ;  they 
gave  themselves  over  to  it.  They  gloried  and  rejoiced 
in  working  all  uncleanness  with  greediness.  Sin  is  a 
fearful  master ;  it  increases  its  dominion  over  us  with 
all  the  rapidity  of  a  burning  fire.  Every  indulgence 
enlarges  the  appetite  and  makes  repentance  more  im- 
probable and  more  difficult.  Such  were  the  Gentiles 
as  Paul  saw  them,  and  as  he  described  them  with  a 
master's  hand.  Hence  the  necessity  of  a  divine  rev- 
elation to  teach  and  of  a  divine  Deliverer  to  redeem. 
Blessed  be  God,  the  fullness  of  the  times  came,  and 
the  seed  of  a  woman  became  the  Serpent-Bruiser.  The 
Daystar  has  arisen  to  chase  away  the  darkness  and  the 
dangers  of  the  night. 

Sixth.  It  may  be  objected  to  the  apostle's  description 
of  heathenism  that  it  is  exaggerated,  and  even  contrary 
to  the  innate  principles  of  human  virtue  and  rectitude. 
But  the  proper  answer  to  this  is:  (1)  It  is  yet  to  be 
proved  that  there  are  innate  principles  of  virtue  in 
man — I  admit  innate  capacities  only — and  till  ihis  is 
done  we  may  hold  by  the  words  of  Paul  in  this  matter ; 
(2)  I  have  mentioned  already  that  the  literature  and 
the  monuments  of  the  heathen,  ancient  and  modern, 
are  remarkably  corrupt  and  abominable ;  (3)  I  add 
that  their  wise  men  and  philosophers  taught  sentiments 
of  the  grossest  impiety  and  vileness ;  so  that,  as  Origen 

40 


314  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

says,  "  In  committing  adultery  and  whoredom  tliey 
did  not  think  themselves  violating  good  manners." 
Among  the  refined  and  civilized  Greeks  theft  was  dis- 
honorable only  when  the  thief  had  not  sufficient  adroit- 
ness to  conceal  it.  The  great  philosopher  of  Athens 
taught  Aspasia  the  arts  of  seduction.  The  wise  men 
of  heathenism  had  hardly  any  perception  of  the  beauty 
of  truth.  Whitby  collects  some  of  their  maxims  on 
this  subject.  Menander  lays  down  the  rule  that  "a  lie 
is  better  than  a  hurtful  truth ;"  Proclus  asserts  that 
"  good  is  better  than  truth ;"  Darius,  in  Herodotus, 
teaches,  "When  telling  a  lie  is  profitable,  tell  it." 
Plato  allows  you  to  lie  as  much  as  you  please,  if  you 
do  it  at  the  proper  time ;  for,  as  Maximus  Tyrius 
asserts,  "  there  is  nothing  decorous  in  truth  save  when 
it  is  profitable,  and  sometimes  a  lie  is  profitable  and 
truth  is  injurious  to  men."  These  specimens  will  be 
sufficient  to  justify  the  apostle  in  his  awful  denun- 
ciations of  the  crimes  and  corruptions  of  the  heathen 
world. 

But  come  now,  an  1  from  verse  20  onward  let  us 
contemplate — 

II.  The  Duties  and  the  Virtues  of  the  New- 
Testament  Church. 

But  ye  have  not  so  learned  Christ ;  if  so  be  that  ye 
have  heard  him,  and  have  heen  taught  by  him,  as  the 
truth  is  ill  Jesus   (ver.  20,  21). 

First.  Ye  have  not  so  learned  Christ.  Ye  have 
received  him  as  the  source  of  all  goodness,  purity  and 
truth,  in  whom  there  is  grace  for  the  humble,  strength 
for  the  weak  and  mercy  for  every  guilty  creature. 
Here  Jesus  Christ  is  presented  as  the  great  object  of 


CHAFrER  IV.    VERSES   17-32.  315 

the  believer's  study,  and  truly  the  theme  is  a  high  and 
wonderful  one.  Think  of  a  Mediator  between  the 
holy,  infinite  God  and  his  weak,  sinful  creatures — his 
qualifications,  his  offices  and  his  mighty  acts ;  think 
of  him  in  all  the  varieties  of  person  and  character, 
as  the  Son  of  God  and  the  son  of  man,  the  King  and 
the  subject,  the  Sceptre-Bearer  and  the  burden-bearer, 
in  whom,  from  the  beginning,  all  the  prophecies  and 
promises  centre,  and  in  whom  now,  through  his  incar- 
nation, crucifixion  and  ascension,  they  are  fulfilled  and 
for  evermore  made  sure  to  his  believing  people.  This 
is  no  subject  for  cold  speculation.  No ;  we  behold  in 
him  the  medium  and  the  measure  of  Jehovah's  love, 
and  are  drawn  to  him  by  a  thousand  cords  of  admi- 
ration and  gratitude. 

"  O  verbum  incarnatum, 
Rerum  principium, 
Pro  vie  humiliatum, 
Velut  mancipium,"  * 

The  more  we  know  of  him,  the  less  are  we  likely  to 
be  puffed  up  with  other  knowledge.  All  knowledge  is 
in  itself  good  and  elevating,  but  in  Christ  alone  it 
becomes  a  holy,  sanctifying  principle,  casting  down 
pride  and  all  lofty  imaginations.  Hence  the  apostle 
speaks  not  so  much  of  knowing  and  being  taught 
the  truth  generally,  but — 

Second.  The  truth  as  it  is  i7i  Jesus.  Here  is  the 
great  difference  between  a  person  and  a  thing — between 
a  holy,  living  reality  and  a  cold,  beautiful  abstraction. 
We  connect  everything  with  the  loving  person  of  our 
Kinsman-Redeemer,  and  find   its  value   infinitely  en- 

*  "  Incarnate  Word,  creation's  primal  Fount, 
For  me  thou  didst  assume  a  servant's  form." 


316  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

hanced  thereby.  Every  utterance  is  sweet  because  he 
speaks ;  every  gift  noble  and  attractive,  because  he 
gives ;  every  precept,  doctrine  and  warning  effectual, 
because  he  is  the  Teacher.  He  teaches  as  one  having 
authority,  and  not  as  the  scribes.  We  know  that  he 
loves ;  that  in  his  descent  from  the  throne  to  the 
manger,  the  cross  and  the  grave  he  has  given  the 
most  wonderful  proofs  of  his  love;  and  hence  the 
words  and  truths  which  from  others  would  have  been 
ineffectual  to  penetrate  our  hearts  with  the  authority 
of  God.  It  is  no  longer  an  idea  or  a  theory  or  a 
doctrine,  but  a  person,  a  holy,  loving,  redeeming 
Brother,  in  whom  we  see  all  truth,  holiness  and  beauty 
realized  and  manifested. 

"O  Lord,  our  Lord,  and  spoiler  of  our  foes, 
There  is  no  light  but  thine ;  with  thee  all  beauty  glows." 

III.  What  we  are  to  Put  Off. 

That  ye  put  off  concerning  the  former  conversation 
the  old  man,  ivhich  is  corrupt  according  to  the  deceitful 
lusts  (ver.  22). 

Hence,  being  taught  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  ye  are 
to  put  off  the  old  man,  which  is  corrupt  according  to 
the  deceitful  lusts.  Who  is  this  "  old  man  "  ?  The 
old  man  means  the  old  Adam  in  us,  as  distinguished 
from  Christ,  the  second  Adam,  formed  in  our  hearts 
the  hope  of  glory.  There  is  a  vinculum  that  connects 
us  with  the  fall — the  old  man  ;  and  there  is  a  connect- 
ing-link which  unites  us  with  the  Redeemer — the  new 
man  which  is  created  in  righteousness  and  true  holi- 
ness. These  are  the  twins,  like  Jacob  and  Esau, 
struggling  in  the  heart  of  every  man ;  these  are  the 
two   laws   which   war   against   each   other   so   fiercely 


CHAPTEK   IV.    VERSES  17-32.  317 

(Rom,  vii.  23)  in  the  very  bosom  of  the  Church,  the 
inward  types  of  the  two  kingdoms — the  Cains  and  the 
Abels,  the  Sauls  and  the  Davids,  the  Judases  and  the 
Johns — which  have  been  in  mortal  conflict  since  the 
beginning  of  the  world,  and  which  must  continue  to 
be  so  until  the  coming  of  the  Lord,  when  the  kingdom 
and  the  dominion,  and  the  greatness  of  the  kingdom 
under  the  whole  heaven,  shall  be  given  to  the  people 
of  the  saints  of  the  Most  High,  whose  kingdom  is  an 
everlasting  kingdom,  and  all  dominions  shall  serve 
and  obey  him   (Dan.  vii.  27). 

The  nature  of  the  old  man  is  clearly  defined  in 
Scripture,  and,  taken  in  connection  with  its  contrasts 
and  accompaniments,  teaches  us  much  important  truth. 
Thus  the  old  man  is  to  be  put  ofl'  and  the  new  man 
put  on ;  he  is  corruptible,  and  therefore  to  be  crucified, 
or  rather  we  who  believe  are  baptized  into  the  faith 
that  he  is  crucified  with  Christ  on  the  cross,  and  that 
the  new  man  should  henceforth  be  our  only  concern. 
This  is  nearly  the  same  as  the  oukvard  man,  in  whom 
the  seeds  of  the  flesh  find  their  nourishment  and 
growth,  whom  it  is  oui-  duty  to  resist  and  weaken  day 
by  day  until  the  new  creature,  the  inner  man,  be  pre- 
pared in  beauty  and  holiness  for  entering  into  the 
kingdom  of  the  Lord. 

How  may  we  know  the  old  man  when  we  meet  him  ? 
The  twenty-second  verse  gives  us  two  marks  of  him  : 
he  is  connected  with  our  former  conversation  when  we 
lived  in  unregeneracy,  and  he  is  corrupt  according  to 
the  deceitful  lusts.  These  make  his  presence  known, 
and,  indeed,  one  great  part  of  the  work  of  grace  in  the 
heart  is  to  resist  and  conquer  his  devices.  There  must 
be  a  constant  putting  oft'   while  we    are  in   the  flesh, 


318  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

a  constant  watching  unto  prayer,  a  continual  resisting 
of  indwelling  corruption,  that  the  temple  of  our  hearts 
may  be  kept  pure  and  entire  for  our  dear  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 

"Oh  for  a  heart  to  praise  my  God, 

A  heart  from  sin   set  free ; 
A  heart  that's  sprinkled  with  tlie  blood 

So  freely  shed  for  me; 
A  heart  resigned,  submissive,  meek, 

My  blessed  Saviour's  throne, 
Where  only  Christ  is  heard  to  speak, 

Where  Jesus  reigns  alone." 

IV.   The  Renewal  :  What  we  are  to  Put  On. 

And  be  renewed  in  the  spirit  of  your  mind  ;  and  that 
ye  put  on  the  new  man,  which  after  God.  is  created  in 
righteousness  and  true  holiness  (ver.  23,  24). 

Christianity  is  not  a  system  of  negation.  Every- 
thing is  clear,  definite  and  personal — positive  duties 
commanded,  positive  sins  named  and  forbidden,  positive 
doctrines  to  be  tauglit,  and  positive  real  persons  to  1  e 
loved  or  hated,  as  the  case  may  be.  Even  so  it  is  not 
enough  that  we  die  to  sin :  we  must  also  live  to  right- 
eousness. Death  is  only  the  preparation  for  life,  and 
the  loathsome  passage  of  the  grave  leads  to  Mount 
Olivet  and  from  thence  to  the  heavenly  throne.  Put 
off  the  old  and  put  on  the  new  ;  resist  sin,  cleave  unto 
righteousness ;  cease  to  do  evil,  learn  to  do  well.  Sin 
must  be  dethroned  from  the  heart  that  grace  may  enter 
in  and  reign.  Wash  before  you  dress  ;  scourge  out  ihe 
buyers  and  the  sellers  from  the  temple  that  the  rightful 
Lord  may  there  receive  homage.  The  ancient  fabric 
must  come  down,  the  sin-defiled  structure  must  l>e 
leveled  to  the  dust,  before  there  can  be  laid  the  four.- 


CHAPTER   IV.     VEESES   17  32.  319 

dations  of  grace  on  which  the  new  and  beautiful  temple 
must  stand.  Death  and  defilement  have  penetrated  into 
the  recesses  of  our  moral  nature ;  so  that  we  require  to 
be  renewed  in  the  very  spirit  of  our  mind. 

This  is  a  word  of  deep  meaning,  and  we  should  con- 
sider it  well.  Not  only  the  nous — the  entire  structure 
of  the  mind — is  disordered  and  sullied,  but  the  pneuma 
— the  very  spirit  of  the  mind,  the  will  and  the  affec- 
tions, the  guiding,  controlling  faculties  of  our  being — 
are  lying  in  ruinous  disorder  and  require  to  be  re- 
newed. It  is  ever  so.  The  deeper  we  search  into  the 
inner  spirit  of  the  natural  mind,  the  more  we  find  of 
chaos  and  night,  of  emptiness  and  rebellion  against  the 
will  of  God.  The  slime  of  the  serpent  has  stained  the 
fair  material  creation,  and  his  poison  has  corrupted  the 
fountains  of  our  life  into  pools  of  vileness  deep  and 
black  as  hell.  We  need  regeneration ;  the  very  spirit 
of  our  mind  needs  to  );e  renewed. 

This  being  done,  then,  by  the  good  Spirit  of  God,  we 
are  to  put  on  the  new  man,  which,  after  God  (in  con- 
formity to  the  will  of  God),  is  created  in  righteousness 
and  true  holiness,  or,  according  to  the  Hebrew-Greek 
form,  is  created  in  the  righteousness  and  holiness  of 
truth.  There  is  an  apparent  righteousness  and  holiness 
which  is  not  based  on  truth,  but  on  falsehood,  and  can 
never  be  acceptable  to  the  God  of  holiness  and  truth. 
His  nature  is  holy,  his  work  is  perfect  and  his  word  is 
true.  He  requires  truth  in  the  hidden  parts,  and  can 
never  be  satisfied  with  the  outward  appearance  of  de- 
votion, in  which  not  truth,  but  error,  is  the  ruling 
principle. 

With  regard  to  the  new  man  we  observe :  (1)  That 
it  is  entirely  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  can  never 


:^20  GEAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

be  accomplished  by  the  mere  will  of  the  creature  (John 
i.  13).  He  who  in  the  material  creation  at  the  begin- 
nino;  breathed  order  and  life  into  the  chaotic  mass  must 
breathe  into  and  vitalize  our  souls.  He  enters  into  the 
ruins  which  sin  and  death  have  made  and  brings  forth 
the  new  man — not  holding  of  Adam,  but  of  Christ ; 
not  the  perfect  man  of  creation,  but  the  perfect  man  of 
regeneration — on  whom,  glorified  and  immortalized  in 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  all  the  lineaments  of  the  char- 
acter of  Christ  shall  be  eternally  inscribed.  (2)  New 
is  the  character  of  the  dispensation.  We  have  the  new 
covenant  with  better  promises  ;  a  new  heart  with  its  no- 
bler aspirations ;  a  new  name  written  upon  us  ;  a  new 
nature  created  within  us ;  a  new  heaven  above  us ;  a 
new  earth  beneath  our  feet ;  and  a  New  Jerusalem  be- 
fore us  as  we  march  through  the  wilderness.  Old 
things  have  passed  away ;  behold,  all  things  have  be- 
come new. 

So  the  apostle  tells  us  to  put  on  the  new  man  ;  we  are 
united  to  Christ  by  faith,  and  he  is  the  second  Adam, 
the  Lord  from  heaven,  who  sitteth  on  the  throne  to 
make  all  things  new.  Be  it,  then,  our  high  aim  to 
walk  in  newness  of  life  worthy  of  Him  who  haa 
called  us  from  darkness  into  his  marvelous  light. 

"  Oh,  may  thy  Spirit  seal  our  souls 

And  mould  them  to  thy  will, 
That  our  weak  hearts  no  more  may  stray, 

But  keep  thy  precepts  still. 
Till  to  perfection's  sacred  height 

We  nearer  still  may  rise, 
And  all  we  think,  and  all  we  do, 

Be  pleasing  in  thine  eyes  " 


CHAPTER    IV.    VERSES   17-32.  321 

V.    Lying. 

Wherefore  putting  away  lying,  speak  every  man  truth 
with  his  neighbor :  for  we  are  memhers  one  of  another 
(ver.  25). 

There  are  various  kinds  of  lies,  which  differ  from  one 
another  in  moral  enormity  and  vileness.  (1)  There  are 
metaphysical  lies,  which  are  nearly  the  same  as  mis- 
takes, as  when  you  see  a  man  coming  in  the  distance 
and  assert  he  is  such  a  one,  when,  on  approaching,  he 
is  found  to  be  another.  Such  lies,  however  blame- 
worthy, are  quite  different  from  voluntary,  malignant 
lies.  (2)  There  are  lies  of  a  blacker  character,  which 
may  be  called  lies  of  jesting  and  humor.  This  vile 
habit  leads  naturally  to  still  more  criminal  lies.  (3) 
There  are  lies  arising  from  profit,  shame,  ambition, 
where  the  liar  wishes  to  defend  himself  or  to  escape 
some  deserved  punishment  or  to  gain  some  advantage. 
(4)  The  intentional,  malignant  lie,  by  which  we  seek 
to  deceive  our  fellow-men  or  to  blacken  their  character. 
This  is  the  climax  of  the  liar's  malignity,  and  very 
often  he  proceeds  from  one  grade  to  another  in  this 
accumulating  process  of  falsehood.  The  apostle  says, 
''''Put  aivay  lying  " — viz.,  all  kinds  of  lying — and  speak 
truth  every  one  with  his  neighbor. 

Wherein  lies  the  evil  of  lying  ?  We  observe  (1)  that 
a  lie  is  the  nearest  thing  possible  to  suicide,  being 
a  denial  of  the  personality  which  God  has  given  us 
and  calculated  to  reduce  the  order  of  God's  creation  to 
confusion.  (2)  It  is  contrary  to  the  nature  and  use  of 
language,  and  to  the  purpose  of  God  himself  in  giving 
us  the  organs  of  speech.  (3)  It  makes  men  like  devils 
and  destroys  all  confidence  in   human    society.     Two 

41 


322  GKAIIAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

men  give  each  other  the  lie,  and  you  have  a  duel ;  one 
mob  gives  another  the  lie,  and  tliere  is  a  riot ;  two  na- 
tions give  each  other  the  lie,  and  you  have  war  ;  our 
race  gave  God  the  lie  in  paradise,  and  we  have  the  fall 
— the  heaven  and  the  earth  in  conflict  with  each  other. 
Such  are  the  effects  of  a  lie.  (4)  We  add  that  tlie  liar 
is  shut  out  from  the  kingdom  of  heaven  by  the  author- 
ity of  God,  being  by  both  nature  and  practice  unfitted 
for  the  heavenly  home.  All  truth  and  all  righteous- 
ness are  destroyed  by  lying;  and  hence  it  is  the 
mark  and  sign-manual  of  the  devil,  wdio  first  brought 
disorder  and  confusion  into  the  universe. 

But  are  there  no  lies  of  necessity  f  Are  there  no 
examples  where  lies  are  justifiable  ?  May  we  not  fol- 
low the  example  of  the  midwives  (Ex.  i.  18) ;  of  E,a- 
hab  (Josh.  ii.  4) ;  of  Michal  (1  Sam.  xix.  16,  17) ;  of 
David  (1  Sam.  xx.  6) ;  of  Hushai  (2  Sam.  xvi.  17,  18) ; 
of  Elisha  (2  Kings  vi.  19)  ?  No ;  these  are  not  to  be 
followed,  but  avoided,  inasmuch  as  God  gave  us  in  his 
word  the  faults  as  well  as  the  virtues  of  his  saints. 
Augustine  {contra  mendacium),  speaking  of  the  mid- 
wives,  says,  ^'Benefecit  Us  Deus,  non  quia  mentitce 
sunt,  sed  quia  in  homines  Dei  misericordes  fuerunt  ; 
non  est  itaque  in  els  remunerata  fallacia,  sed  benevo- 
lentia ;  benignitas  mentis,  non  iniquitas  mentientis — 
that  is,  "  God  rewarded  the  midwives,  not  for  their 
lying,  but  for  their  kindness  to  his  people.  Here,  then, 
there  is  no  reward  given  to  falsehood,  but  to  gener- 
osity ;  the  reward  is  given  to  the  kindness  of  the  heart, 
and  not  to  the  iniquity  of  the  liar."  So  we  say  of  the 
others ;  and  we  utterly  deny  that  the  word  of  God  or 
right  reason  can  ever  be  made  to  justify  what  are  called 
lies   of  necessity.      Besides,  how  can  we  know  when 


CHAPTER  IV.     VERSES  17-32.  323 

there  is  such  a  necessity  ?  Cannot  God  deliver  us  ?  Or 
may  it  not  be  better  that  we  should  not  be  delivered  ? 
Do  we  really  believe  in  God  and  in  providence?  Or 
are  these  mere  names,  and  therefore  are  we  left  to  take 
care  of  ourselves  ?  His  glory  and  our  own  good  may, 
perhaps,  require  the  very  thing  we  wish  to  avoid.  The 
moment  we  seek  to  violate  the  laws  of  the  creation, 
mental  or  moral,  we  are  seeking  after  another  God ! 
The  ^'Mea  fraus  omnis''  ("The  fraud  is  mine")  of 
Virgil  {vEneid  ix.  427)  is  not  a  case  in  point;  nor, 
indeed,  is  such  a  case  conceivable,  whatever  the  casuists 
of  Rome  and  the  Jesuits  may  say  to  the  contrary. 

See,  on  the  other  hand,  what  ruin  and  what  desolation 
have  been  brought  about  by  lies  (Gen.  iii.  1,2;  xxxix. 
14 ;  1  Kings  xxi.  13 ;  2  Kings  v.  22 ;  Esth.  iii.  8 ; 
Matt.  xxvi.  70;  xxviii.  13;  Acts  v.  3;  Tit.  i.  12,  etc.) 
from  the  beginning  of  the  world.  God  is  the  God  of 
truth  ;  Jesus  is  the  way,  the  truth  and  the  life.  We 
fell  by  the  liar,  and  we  are  restored  by  the  Truth- 
Bringer.  The  lie  is  the  great  divider  between  heart 
and  heart,  between  man  and  his  fellow,  between  God 
and  his  creatures.  Truth  is  the  healer  of  all  breaches, 
the  blood  of  the  body,  the  cement  of  the  temple  of 
God.  It  may  be  opposed  and  ojDpressed  and  seem- 
ingly extinguished,  but  out  of  the  blood  and  the  ashes 
of  the  martyrs  it  will  again  rise  with  greater  force  and 
beauty  than  before.  ''Magna  est  Veritas  et  prcevalebit " 
("Great  is  the  truth,  and  it  shall  prevail").  Nothing 
is  more  admirable  than  an  honest,  sincere,  truth-speak- 
ing tongue. 

Speak  every  man  truth  with  his  neighbor.  The 
truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  is 
one  of  the  best  characteristics  of  the  Christian   con- 


324  GEAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

"versation.  The  reason  is,  "  For  we  are  members  one 
of  another  " — that  is,  we  all  belong  to  the  same  body 
of  Christ,  to  the  sanie  human  family,  to  the  same  uni- 
verse of  God ;  and  the  life  that  pervades  it  all  is  truth, 
the  circulating  medium  in  the  celestial  corporation. 
In  speaking  lies  you  vitiate  the  blood  by  the  infusion 
of  a  poisonous  foreign  element,  and  as  it  flows  through 
the  whole  it  will  weaken  the  whole.  A  hint,  an  innu- 
endo, uttered  in  the  privacy  of  the  tea-table,  may  ruin 
the  character  at  the  distance  of  thousands  of  miles. 
We  are  wonderfully  knit  together  in  the  widespread- 
ing,  entangled,  many-colored  web-work  of  humanity ; 
and  the  great  bond  of  union  is  the  truth,  is  the  true 
One,  in  whom,  as  a  centre,  all  that  is  truthful  and 
beautiful  and  serene  finds  its  resting-place  and  its 
home.  Let  us  speak  truth  one  with  another,  for  we 
are  members  one  of  another.  We  were  all  created  in 
one  man — Adam  ;  we  fell  and  were  smitten  to  death 
in  one  man ;  we  were  all  in  the  ark  with  Noah  when 
the  waters  covered  the  world ;  we  were  all  redeemed  in 
one  Man — the  Lord  from  heaven.  The  race  is  one, 
and  must  bear  one  another's  1  urdens ;  the  Church  is 
one,  and  the  members  suffer  and  rejoice  with  one  an- 
other. This  mutual  membership  is  the  law  of  crea- 
tion, the  law  of  providence  and  the  law  of  love.  A 
whole  nation  was  cursed  in  Ham,  a  whole  nation  blest 
in  Shem ;  a  world  destroyed  in  Adam,  a  new  creation 
redeemed  in  Christ.  So  in  our  families,  in  our  churches 
and  in  the  kingdoms  of  the  nations  the  great  moral 
law  of  brotherhood  is  mutual  membership,  and  truth 
' — the  truth  spoken  in  love — is  the  healthful,  purify- 
ing medium  which  purges  off  the  baser  materials  and 
gives  stability  and  beauty  to  them  all. 


CHAPTER  IV.     VERSES   17-32.  325 

"Quid  est  Veritas r  ("What  is  truth?")  said 
Pilate,  but  would  not  wait  for  an  answer.  Transpose 
these  letters,  and  you  have  the  answer  :  ''^st  mi'  qui 
adest'^  {"  It  is  the  man  who  is  present  ").  Yes,  broth- 
er, he  is  the  truth — the  Man  who  is  present ;  the  ever- 
watchful,  faithful  Friend  who  loved  us  and  died  for 
our  sins  on  the  tree.  He  is  the  Truth,  and  our  con- 
versation should  be  of  Him  who,  like  truth,  is  the  same 
yesterday,  to-day  and  for  ever. 

VI.  Anger. 

Be  ye  angry,  and  sin  not :  let  not  the  sun  go  down 
upon  your  wrath  (ver.  26). 

This  may  be  taken  as  a  command  to  be  angry  with 
that  with  which  God  is  angry ;  to  be  indignant  against 
that  unholy  thing  whicli  he  hates ;  to  be  of  the  same 
mind  with  God.  This  is  the  very  highest  idea  we  can 
entertain  of  holiness.  We  should  look  upon  sin  and 
righteousness,  the  Church  and  the  world,  time  and 
eternity,  with  his  eyes ;  we  should  enter  into  his  mind 
and  be  fully  satisfied  with  the  justice  and  excellence  of 
all  that  he  does — his  acts  of  love  to  the  believer  and  his 
fearful  judgments  upon  the  finally  impenitent. 

It  is  better,  however,  to  take  it  as  a  permissive  imper- 
ative, thus :  "  It  is  allowable  to  be  angry,  but  settled 
hatred  is  forbidden  ;  let  not  the  sun  go  down  upon 
your  wrath."  The  sentence  is  probably  taken  from 
Ps.  iv.  4  (Sej^tuagint),  where  we  find  the  words  of  our 
text.  Our  translators  have  given  it,  "  Stand  in  awe, 
and  sin  not " — viz.,  stand  in  awe,  in  order  that  ye  sin 
not — a  sense  which  the  Hebrew  may  well  bear,  but 
which  the  Greek  hardly  can.  I  think  the  meaning 
is  this :     Anger  is  allowable,  but  it  is  dangerous  and 


326  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

difficult  to  control.  Jesus  looked  round  about  on  them 
with  anger,  being  grieved  for  the  hardness  of  their 
hearts  (Mark  iii.  5).  God  is  angry  with  the  wicked 
every  day.  You  too  may  be  angry ;  and  if  ye  be  so,  take 
care  that  ye  sin  not,  and,  above  all,  do  not  cherish  the 
principle  of  settled  hatred  and  malignity.  Be  recon- 
ciled before  ye  sleep.  The  disciples  of  Pythagoras, 
when  they  had  been  angry,  shook  hands  and  embraced 
before  the  going  down  of  the  sun.  Every  evening  is  to 
remind  us  of  death,  and  every  morning  of  the  resur- 
rection of  the  dead.  Reconciled  with  all  our  enemies 
and  filled  with  the  forgiving  spirit  of  our  Master,  we 
can  offer  up  the  evening  sacrifice  of  prayer  and  praise, 
lifting  up  holy  hands  without  wrath  or  doubting 
(1  Tim.  ii.  8).  The  spirit  of  the  exhortation  is  the 
sweet,  tranquillizing  breath  of  forgiving  love.  We 
would  imitate  our  heavenly  Father,  who  is  long-suffer- 
ing, slow  to  anger  and  abundant  in  goodness  and  truth. 
Charity,  which  is  love,  not  only  believes  all  things  and 
hopes  all  things,  but  also  bears  all  things.  This  sweet- 
ness of  life  and  character  is  the  main  ornament  of  our 
families,  and  far  more  impoitunt  to  our  comfort  and 
well-being  than  clear-eyed  wisdom  or  commanding 
authority.  The  spirit  of  bitterness  and  complaint  can 
out  of  the  thousand  littles  of  life  which  love  can  pass 
hj  or  forgive  work  a  pandemonium  where  only  devils 
and  devils'  servants  can  feel  at  home. 

Seek,  then,  brother,  to  have  the  mind  of  Christ,  the 
sweet,  all-enduring,  all-forgiving  spirit  which  was 
manifested  in  his  active  life  and  in  his  last  dying 
prayer :  "  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not 
what  they  do."  How  nobly  Stephen  died  (Acts  vii. 
54-60)   breathing   this   spirit   of  love !     Nature,  with 


CHAPTER   IV.     VERSES   17-32.  327 

all   her   beauties,  has   nothing  like  this — so  calm,  so 

patient,  so  Godlike.     May  we  ever  cherish  the  spirit 
of  forgiving  love ! 
We  come  now  to — 

VII.    DiABOLUS    THE    DeVIL. 

Neither  give  place  to  the  devil  (ver.  27). 

We  observe  here  that  in  the  mind  of  the  apostle 
anger  is  connected  with  the  agency  of  Satan.  It  is 
when  the  passions  are  excited  and  the  reason  is  thrown 
off  its  guard  that  Satan  is  most  likely  to  succeed  in  his 
temptations.  He  tempted  Adam  through  the  appetite, 
and  it  was  when  Jesus  was  alone  and  hungry  that  the 
tempter  came  to  him  in  the  wilderness  of  Judea.  The 
Jews  have  a  proverb  that  "  Whosoever  yields  to  anger 
is  under  the  dominion  of  the  fiends."  The  Romans 
called  anger  a  fit  of  madness ;  and  we  may  well  believe 
that  Satan,  rejoicing  in  ruin  and  seeking  to  drive  his 
victims  to  the  tombs  (Matt.  viii.  28),  wishes  nothing- 
more  ardently  than  to  overthrow  the  stability  and  the 
harmony  of  the  human  mind. 

Some  moderns  translate  this,  "  Neither  give  place  to 
the  adversary,"  which  is  tame  and  unlike  the  apostolic 
sentiment.  Nothing  can  be  more  manifest  than  that 
the  Scriptures  everywhere  recognize  the  presence  of  a 
powerful,  personal,  malignant  being,  the  enemy  of  God 
and  his  saints,  the  first  sinner,  the  chief  and  lord  of 
a  kingdom  of  wickedness  and  death  (Eph.  iv.  27 ;  vi. 
11 ;  1  Tim.  iii.  6,  7 ;  2  Tim.  ii.  26 ;  Heb.  ii.  14 ;  James 
iv.  7 ;  1  Pet.  v.  8 ;  1  John  iii.  8,  etc.).  He  that  can 
make  up  1  is  mind  to  philosophize  a  personal  devil 
out  of  Scripture  and  out  of  the  creation  will  not  long- 
hold  by  the  doctrine  of  a  personal  Jehovah  independ- 


328  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

ent  of  the  creation,  the  self-existent  origin  of  all 
things.  All  will  become  confused  in  the  order  and  ob- 
jects of  thought,  and  a  dim,  dreary,  indistinct  form  of 
pantheistic  abstraction  will  take  the  place  of  a  holy, 
living,  eternal  God  in  whom  the  weary  find  rest,  the 
persecuted  an  avenger  and  the  sorrow-stricken  world 
the  hope  of  everlasting  life.  So,  on  the  other  hand, 
evil  will  lose  its  enormity  when  dissevered  from  per- 
sonal agency;  the  fine  feeling  and  edge  of  the  con- 
science will  become  blunted,  until,  in  the  end,  every- 
thing that  exists — the  good  and  the  bad,  the  noblest 
virtues  and  the  foulest  crimes — will  be  reduced  to  the 
irresponsibility  of  a  fatal  necessity.  No  man  is  more 
like  to  the  devil  than  he  who  denies  his  existence.  He 
thinks  himself  free  and  victorious,  while  the  coils  of 
the  old  serpent  are  around  him  in  the  embrace  of 
death.  To  the  believer  on  the  Son  of  God  his  power 
is  broken  (1  John  v.  18)  and  his  fiery  darts  are 
quenched  on  the  shield  of  faith.  Nevertheless,  while 
in  this  world  we  are  subject  to  his  temptations,  though 
with  the  sure  confidence  in  our  heavenly  Father  that 
with  the  trial  there  shall  also  be  a  way  of  escape. 
Greater  is  He  that  is  in  you  than  he  that  is  in  the 
world.  Without  the  permission  of  God  and  the  con- 
sent of  our  own  will  Satan  cannot  touch  us  (Luke  xxii. 
32;  Job  i.).  Hence,  Augustine  says,  '^  Oonsentientes 
tenet,  non  invitos  cogit "  (''  Satan  rules  us  by  means 
of  the  will ;  he  cannot  force  those  who  refuse  him 
admission  "),*  and  (on  Matt.  iv.  6)  ^^Persuadere  potest, 
prcecipitare  non  potest  "  ("  He  can  persuade,  but  he 
cannot  force,  us  to  sin  ").  He  knocks,  and  may  knock 
loudly,  but  till  you  open  he  cannot  enter.     It  is  awful 

*  Ser.  32,  0pp.  v.  114. 


CHAPTER    IV.    VERSES  17-32.  329 

to  think  that  any  creature  should  make  room  in  the 
heart  for  the  evil  one,  and  yet  we  must  be  liable  to 
this  danger  or  the  Holy  Spirit  would  never  have 
written  for  our  learning  the  words,  "  Neither  give 
place  to  the  devil." 

How,  then,  dear  brother,  can  we  most  effectually 
resist  him? 

(1)  Think  of  the  promises  of  your  heavenly  Father, 
the  purpose  of  his  eternal  love,  the  perfect  and  glori- 
ous attributes  of  his  nature,  all  of  which  are  engaged 
in  your  behalf. 

(2)  Think  of  the  person  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
and  the  wondrous  work  which  he  has  done,  and  is  still 
doing,  for  you ;  follow  him  in  his  descent  from  the 
throne  of  heaven  to  the  stable,  the  cross  and  the  tomb 
for  thee,  and  read  the  inexpressible  depths  of  compas- 
sion which  brought  him  so.  For  thee — for  thee,  my 
brother,  and  for  me — did  he  taste  the  bitterness  and 
overcome  the  sharpness  of  death.  Then  see  him,  the 
Conqueror  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  disjDcnsing  the 
gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  he  pleases,  adored  by  the 
angels  and  ruling  in  our  glorified  nature  over  the 
boundless  universe.  These  thoughts  will  strengthen 
your  resolutions  to  resist  the  devil, 

(3)  Prayer  should  be  your  defence  in  the  hour  of 
trial ;  without  prayer  the  soul  feels  herself  divorced 
from  the  fount  of  purity  and  strength,  a  withered 
leaf  broken  off  from  the  tree  of  life,  a  loose  stone  de- 
tached from  the  temple  of  God,  a  homeless,  aimless 
wreck  on  the  ocean  of  eternity.  Take  refuge  in  God ; 
fall  down  before  his  footstool  in  the  humility  of  a  sin- 
convicted  rebel,  yet  in  the  confidence  of  an  accepted 
child ;  and  be  assured  that  his  grace  will  be  sufficient 

42 


'i30  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

for  you  and  his  strength  be  made  perfect  in  your 
weakness. 

(4)  Then  think,  finally,  on  the  cruelty,  malignity 
and  final  destiny  of  the  devil.  He  is  the  enemy  of 
God  and  mankind ;  his  work  is  sin ;  his  habitation 
for  a  thousand  years  is  the  bottomless  pit,  and  then 
the  lake  of  fire  for  ever  and  ever. 

Give  no  place  to  the  devil.  He  is  the  enemy,  the 
destroyer,  the  old  serpent,  whom  the  Son  of  God  was 
manifested  in  our  nature  to  cast  out  and  destroy. 

VIII.  The  Thief. 

Let  him  that  stole  steal  no  more,  but  rather  let  him 
labor,  iiwrking  with  his  hands  the  thing  which  is  good, 
that  he  may  have  to  give  to  him  that  needeth  (ver.  28). 

Jerome  thus  translates:  "  Qui  furabatur  jam  non  fu- 
retur  f  and  Luther,  our  translators  and  many  others 
have  followed  him,  though  without  doubt  the  natural 
translation  is  "the  thief:"  Let  the  thief  thieve  no 
more,  etc.  That  the  present  participle  may  be  used 
in  conjunction  with  imperfectly  past  action  is  manifest 
from  many  examples  (Acts  vii.  18,  26 ;  xvii.  5 ;  Heb. 
xi.  22 ;  Luke  v.  8) ,  and  the  present  particii^le  of  the 
substantive  verb  is  often,  especially  in  John,  connected 
with  the  imperfect,  of  which  John  xi.  25  is  a  remark- 
able instance.  Our  translation,  therefore,  though  not 
the  most  natural,  is  perfectly  justifiable  and  gives  ex- 
cellent sense. 

Some  of  the  Jewish  rabbis  and  many  heathen  justi- 
fied certain  kinds  of  theft,  especially  if  part  of  the 
property  were  given  for  benevolent  ends.  In  S2:)arta 
theft  was  deemed  dishonorable  and  punishable  only 
when  it  was  discovered.     The  apostle  teaches  a  differ- 


CHAPTEK   IV.    VERSES   17-32.  331 

ent  doctrine.  Grace  is  the  medicine  for  the  diseased 
soul — the  only  medicine  that  can  renew  its  prostrate 
powers.  The  thief,  the  drunkard  and  the  murderer 
are  invited  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  his 
grace  has  made  provision  for  their  fallen  and  fearful 
degradation.  There  may  have  been  thieves  in  the 
cliurch  at  Ephesus,  fornicators  among  the  Corinth- 
ians, flesh-cherishing  legalists  among  the  Galatians, 
and  then  but  one  fountain  for  them  all — the  precious 
blood  of  Christ.  Nor  did  these  or  any  other  sins,  how- 
ever enormous,  being  given  up  and  detested,  ever  shut 
out  any  of  them  from  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Theft 
is  a  fearful  transgression  of  the  divine  law,  and  the 
thunders  of  Sinai  are  uttered  against  it ;  yet  the  dying 
thief  at  the  last  hour  obtained  pardon  and  acceptance,  and 
is  now,  no  doubt,  among  the  spirits  of  the  blest  above. 
The  proper  compensation  for  theft  is  labor,  as  the 
apostle  teaches  ;  and  not  only  is  he  to  work  with  his 
own  hands  for  his  own  support,  but  that  he  may  have 
something  to  give  to  him  that  needeth.  This  is  a  noble 
principle,  and  we  should  carry  it  out  in  the  Church 
and  in  the  world.  If  we  are  in  need,  it  is  no  sin  to  ask 
alms  from  the  benevolent ;  it  is  better  to  be  able  to  sup- 
port ourselves  by  our  own  industry ;  and  it  is  the  best 
of  all  to  have  an  overplus,  that  we  may  be  able  to  dis- 
tribute to  the  poor.  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to 
receive ;  and  by  giving  a  cup  of  cold  water  to  a  dis- 
ciple in  the  name  of  Jesus  we  bring  ourselves  into  the 
position  of  God  himself,  the  most  blessed  of  all  beings, 
because  he  is  the  universal  Givek.  The  ipoor  shall 
never  cease  out  of  the  land,  nor  shall  the  benevo- 
lence ever  cease  which  God  has  appointed  to  supply 
their  wants. 


332  GEAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

IX.   The  Right  Use  of  the  Tongue. 

Let  no  Gor7'upt  coynmunication  proceed  out  of  your 
mouth,  but  that  which  is  good  to  the  use  of  edfijiny, 
that  it  may  minister  grace   unto  the  hearers  (ver.  29)_. 

Here  the  Greek  syntax  is  after  the  Hebrew  form  : 
"All  corrupt  communications  shall  not  proceed  from 
your  mouth,"  instead  of  ^^Let  no  corrupt  communication 
proceed  out  of  your  mouths  Compare  the  following- 
passages  in  Greek  as  examples  of  this  kind  of  construc- 
tion :  Matt.  xxiv.  22 ;  Rom.  iii.  20 ;  Eph.  v.  5 ;  1  John 
ii.  21 ;  John  iii.  15 ;  1  Cor.  i.  29 ;  Acts  x.  14 ;  vii.  1 ; 
1  Cor.  XV.  39  ;  Matt.  vii.  21.  (Is  there  any  difference 
in  meaning  between  nrj  nilQ  and  oh  naq,  ?)  The  apostle 
here  begins,  as  in  many  other  places,  with  the  negative  : 
Let  no  corrupt  word  proceed  out  of  your  mouth.  It 
requires  as  much  wisdom  and  as  much  grace  to  know 
when  to  speak  as  to  know  to  speak  rightly,  and  it  per- 
haps requires  more  grace  still  to  abstain  from  corrupt 
communications.  Corrupt  does  not  mean  merely  ob- 
scene and  filthy,  but  everything  impure  and  of  evil 
tendency.  All  that  can  irritate,  divide  or  corrupt  so- 
ciety is  here  forbidden ;  all  hints  at  what  dare  not  be 
freely  spoken  about;  all  innuendos,  double  meanings 
and  mental  reservations  are  forbidden.  All  such  evil- 
speaking  tends  to  putrefy  society  and  make  it  like  cor- 
rupting dead  animals  or  decaying  vegetable  substances 
(Matt.  vii.  17,  18;  xiii.  48;  Luke  vi.  43).  Thus  your 
unguarded  words  are  no  trifle,  inasmuch  as  they  tend  to 
the  destruction  of  the  social  edifice.  This  is  verified  in 
all  history.  When  the  language  and  the  literature  be- 
come corrupt,  the  nation  is  near  its  fall.  This  was  true 
of  the  Greeks  and  the  Romans  in  ancient  times,  and  in 


CHAPTER  IV.    VERSES  17-32.  333 

modem  Europe  we  have  the  example  of  France  before 
the  Kevokition :  the  hmguage  was  corrupt  and  the 
whole  body  politic  interpenetrated  with  the  poison  of 
insincerity  and  lying.  So  it  is  with  the  individual ;  you 
can  judge  of  him  by  what  he  says  and  by  what  he  does 
not  say.  If  his  language  be  corrupt,  you  easily  discern 
the  fountain  from  which  it  flows — the  uuregenerate 
heart  (Matt.  xv.  18,  19).  This,  then,  is  a  characteristic 
of  the  Christian,  that  no  corrupt  communication  pro- 
ceeds out  of  his  mouth.  Be  it  thine,  be  it  mine,  dear 
brother,  for  by  thy  words  thou  shalt  be  justified,  and 
by  thy  words  thou  shalt  be  condemned  (Matt.  xii. 
37). 

But  the  tongue  was  made  to  be  used,  and  hence  more 
than  mere  negative  excellence  is  required.  We  must 
speak  whatsoever'  is  good  (according  to  the  Greek  text) 
for  the  edification  of  use — that  is,  say  some,  by  hypal- 
lage,  for  "  the  use  of  edifying,"  and  quote  "  the  master's 
crib,"  instead  of  "  the  master  of  his  crib,"  as  something- 
similar.  Others  search  for  various  readings  to  get  rid 
of  the  difficulty.  This  is,  however,  quite  in  vain,  as  all 
respectable  authorities  are  in  favor  of  the  text  as  it 
stands.  The  variations  are  mere  emendations  and  re- 
quire no  notice.  De  Wette  gives  the  correct  translation 
of  this  loose  kind  of  genitive :  "Zur  Erbauing  je  nach 
Bedi'irfness  "  ("  Good  for  edification  according  to  neces- 
sity " — viz.,  as  often  as  you  require  to  use  it).  (For  such 
use  of  the  genitive,  see  Winer,  sect.  30-2.)  Thus,  then, 
the  meaning  will  be,  "As  often  as  edification  is  required 
you  are  to  speak  that  which  is  good,  that  it  may  minister 
grace  to  the  hearers." 

Observe  here,  first  of  all,  how  important  the  tongue 
is.     It  is  called  our  glory  in  the  Psalms  of  David ; 


334  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

James  compares  the  tongue  (iii.  1-10)  to  the  bridle  of 
a  horse,  to  the  helm  of  a  ship,  to  a  fiery  wheel  and 
ti)  an  untamable  wild  beast,  and  he  assures  us  that  if 
we  are  able  to  guide  aright  this  little  member  we  can 
easily  control  all  the  actions  of  our  lives.  He  that  com- 
mands the  bridle  controls  the  horse ;  he  that  stands  at 
the  helm  guides  the  ship  as  he  pleases  ;  and  he  who  can 
govern  his  tongue  can  make  his  way  through  the  sea  or 
the  wilderness  of  human  life.  The  tongue,  too,  is  the 
symbol  of  the  language  of  eloquence  {"Concedat  lau7'ea 
linguce,''  Cicero,  Off.  i.  22)  and  of  the  human  race  itself. 
We  are  not  forbidden  to  speak  of  nature  and  of  natural 
phenomena ;  the  whole  circle  of  truth  lies  before  and 
around  us,  and  we  may  speak  of  it  all — the  Creator  and 
the  creation ;  the  past,  the  present  and  the  future ;  the 
events  of  time  and  the  issues  of  eternity.  We  can  see 
our  God  and  Father  in  all,  and  draw  edification  and 
confidence  from  all.  But  let  us  never  forget  Him  in 
whom  the  Father's  purpose  and  the  creation's  hope, 
the  events  of  time  and  the  glories  of  the  future  world, 
are  headed  up  and  manifested,  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord, 
around  whom,  from  Bethlehem  to  Mount  Olivet  and 
from  thence  to  the  heavenly  throne,  the  angels  of  God 
pour  forth  their  endless  hallelujahs.  Let  us  speak  of 
him,  and  we  are  most  likely  to  edify.  His  name  is  as 
ointment  poured  forth,  and  there  is  no  balm  like  his 
cross  for  the  wounded  spirit.  His  name  is  sweet  and 
soothing  to  the  wounded  spirit.  We  are  accustomed  to 
say  and  to  sing, 

"  How  sweet  the  name  of  Jesus  sounds 
In  a  believer's  ear ! 
It  soothes  his  sorrows,  heals  his  wounds 
And  drives  away  his  fear." 


CHAPTER    IV.    VERSES   17-32.  335 

We  ministers  of  the  gospel  especially  should  remem- 
ber the  weighty  resolution  of  the  apostle :  "  God  forbid 
that  I  should  glory,  save  in  the  cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  by  whom  the  world  is  crucified  to  me,  and  I 
unto  the  world."  He  determined  to  know  nothing 
among  them  save  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified.  This 
was  edifying.  The  members  will  no  doubt  grow  the 
more  as  they  hear  more  and  more  of  the  strengtli 
and  beauty  of  the  Head.     The  Germans  say  sweetly — 

"  Drum,  O  Jesu,  will  ich  dich, 
Immer  lieben  festiglich  ; 
Du,  O  Jesu,  sollst  allein, 
Meiner  Seele  Alles  aein."  * 

Let  us,  then,  seek,  as  Christian  men,  so  to  guide  our 
tongues  that  we  may  honor  the  name  of  Jesus  and  edify 
his  Church,  which  he  has  purchased  with  his  blood. 
No  lightness — it  is  unworthy  of  our  name  and  profes- 
sion as  vain,  frivolous,  time-wasting  conversation,  be- 
neath the  dignity  of  sons  of  God  and  joint-heirs  with 
Christ;  no,  not  even  the  strokes  of  humor  and  the 
brilliant  Atticisms  which  are  naturally  so  attractive 
(see  in  Greek  the  ''fine  tmms,''  Eph.  v.  4) — should 
lead  our  minds  away  from  the  one  great  theme,  the 
love  of  God  to  sinful  man. 

O  thou  great  Linguist,  thou  peiitecostal  Fire,  bap- 
tize us  with  the  fiery  baptism  of  thy  love,  that  in 
our  day  and  generation  we  may  sjDeak  to  the  edifica- 
tion of  men ! 

*  "Therefore,  O  Jesus,  will  I  strongly  love  thee; 
Thou  alone  shalt  be  the  All  of  my  soul." 


336  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

X.  Grieving  the  Holy  Spirit. 

And  grieve  not  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  whereby  ye 
are  sealed  unto  the  day  of  redemption  (ver.  30). 

Here  we  have  before  us  a  whole  volume  of  divine 
theology — the  grieving,  tlie  person  grieved,  the  sealing 
and  the  day  of  redemption.  We  can  only  lightly  touch 
these  great  themes  in  passing. 

The  person  grieved  is  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  called 
so  often,  by  way  of  distinction,  "  the  Spirit "  and  "  the 
Holy  Spirit,"  Avho  sanctifies  and  ornaments  and  inhab- 
its the  living  temple  of  God.  He  is  in  every  conceiv- 
able way  connected  with  the  Father  and  the  Son  in 
the  works  of  creation,  redemj^tion  and  providence 
(Rom.  viii.  9;  1  Pet.  i.  2;  2  Cor.  iii.  17;  Gal.  iv.  6). 
He  is  connected  with  the  Father  and  the  Son  in  more 
than  ninety  passages,  of  which  the  following  may  be 
taken  as  specimens  :  Matt,  xxviii.  19  ;  1  Cor.  xii.  4-7  ; 
2  Cor.  xiii.  14 ;  1  Pet.  i.  2 ;  Jude  20 ;  1  John  v.  7. 
He  is  connected  with  the  person  of  the  Father  alone 
in  such  passages  as  the  following :  John  xv.  26 ;  Acts 
V.  3;  and  with  Jesus  Christ  the  Mediator  in  Rom.  ix. 
1 ;  XV.  20;  1  Cor.  vi.  11 ;  and  many  others.  In  these 
and  other  such  passages  he  is  represented  as  the  divine 
Person  whose  office  it  is  to  perpetuate  and  complete 
the  purposes  of  eternal  love.  He  is  described  as  a 
l^erson ;  he  is  occupied  in  the.  works  of  creation, 
providence  and  redemption ;  he  sends  messages  and 
messengers  to  the  churches ;  and  he  is  himself  sent 
by  the  Father  and  the  Son ;  he  works  miracles,  casts 
out  devils  and  comforts  those  that  mourn  ;  he  is  grieved, 
quenched  and  resisted  by  our  wicked  works  ;  and,  what 
more  than  anything  else  proves  personality,  the  bias- 


CHAPTER    IV.     VERSES   17-32.  337 

pliemy  against  him  is  more  heinous  than  that  against 
the  Father  and  the  Son,  and  never  to  be  forgiven  either 
in  this  life  or  in  that  which  is  to  come. 

Be  sure,  then,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  God,  equal 
in  all  divine  perfections  with  the  Father  and  the  Son. 
He  is  no  mere  abstraction,  but  a  person  who  loves  you 
with  an  eternal  love  and  grieves  over  you  with  the 
bowels  of  tender  compassion ;  you  feel  him  sweetly 
drawing  you  to  the  cross  and  making  your  burdens 
of  guilt  dissolve  there.  When  you  hate  sin  and  love 
righteousness,  it  is  from  him ;  when  your  heart  is 
warmed  with  the  love  of  God  and  man,  so  that  you 
could  joyfully  die  for  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  it  is  from  him ;  when  the  heart  is  filled  with 
adoring  contemplations  of  the  cross,  so  that  the  eye 
brightens  with  humble  but  immortal  hopes  and  the 
tongue  breaks  forth  in  songs  of  praise,  it  is  all  from 
him — the  life  that  flows  in  the  body,  the  sap  that  cir- 
culates in  the  vine,  the  cement  that  makes  strong  the 
temple  of  God,  the  Comforter  of  all  that  mourn. 
When  you  reject  the  truth  by  which  he  would  lead 
you  to  the  skies ;  when  you  prefer  the  world  and  its 
passing  vanities  to  the  hopes  of  eternity ;  when  dark- 
ness is  dearer  to  you  than  light,  discord  than  peace, 
death  than  life ;  when  sin  hardens  and  no  tears  of 
sorrow  flow ;  wdien  God  calls  and  there  is  no  response  ; 
when  temptation  comes  and  there  is  little  or  no  faith 
to  meet  it ;  when  death  approaches  and  there  is  no 
preparedness  for  dying, — you  may  be  sure,  in  all  these 
cases,  that  you  are  grieving  the  Holy  Spirit  and  pierc- 
ing yourselves  through  with  many  sorrows. 

The  great  final,  condemning  sin  was  ever  against  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  ever  must  be,  for  he  is  the  last  wit- 

43 


338  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

ness  given  to  the  sons  of  men.  The  inhabitants  of  the 
old  world  resisted  him  in  the  days  of  Noah,  and  the 
Flood  came  and  took  them  all  away ;  the  Jews  resist- 
ed him  on  Pentecost,  and  the  Romans  speedily  de- 
stroyed their  temple  and  broke  their  nation  to  pieces. 
In  the  last  days,  too,  he  shall  be  resisted,  grieved  and 
quenched  most  awfully,  until  vengeance  shall  overtake 
the  ungodly  at  the  coming  of  the  Lord  (2  Thess. 
i.  8,  9). 

In  the  mean  time,  he  is  seeking  to  seal  us  unto  the 
day  of  redemption.  (See  Eph.  i.  13;  2  Cor.  i.  22.) 
But  what  is  this  sealing  of  the  Spirit  ?  Vessels  were 
sealed,  so  we  are  the  vessels  of  God's  mercy,  sealed  and 
preserved  for  the  Master's  use;  letters  are  sealed,  so 
we  are  to  be  the  epistles  of  his  manifold  wisdom,  the 
sealed,  commissioned  messengers  of  his  grace  to  the 
world.  His  seal  is  upon  us  (Rev.  vii.  2 ;  1  Kings  xxi. 
8 ;  Cant.  viii.  6) ,  and  we  are  required  to  be  faithful  to 
him  in  the  great  mission  of  mercy  to  mankind.  The 
seal  is  always  the  pledge  of  the  truth  of  what  is  prom- 
ised, and  so  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  great  seal  of  the 
Father's  purpose  and  the  Son's  dying  love.  The  day 
of  Pentecost  was  the  seal  set  by  God  upon  the  truth, 
importance  and  glory  of  the  work  of  Christ  in  our 
nature.  The  sealing  of  the  Spirit  is  the  work  that  dis- 
tinguishes the  sheep  of  the  great  Shepherd.  They  are 
his,  he  purchased  them  ;  and  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit 
are  the  seal  and  the  sign  t'lat  they  belong  to  him,  and 
not  to  another.  They  bear  his  mark,  and  cannot  be 
taken  for  the  property  of  a  stranger. 

But  what  is  the  progress  of  this  sealing  ? 

There  are  five  steps  in  it.  He  begins  the  sealing  in 
the  conviction  of  sin ;  he  deepens  the  impression  in  our 


CHAPTER  IV.    VERSES   17-32.  So'J 

full  conversion  to  God ;  the  image  on  the  seal  becomes 
brighter  and  more  distinct  in  the  full  assurance  of  faith; 
then  comes  deatli,  and  we  are  taken  into  the  presence 
of  the  Son  of  God,  being  made  like  him  in  all  the  feel- 
ings and  all  the  faculties  of  our  souls.  AVe  are  still  im- 
perfect, however,  until  the  reunion  of  soul  and  body  in 
the  morning  of  the  resurrection,  and  hence  the  sealing 
shall  be  perfected  at  the  coming  of  the  Lord,  when,  in 
body  and  soul  being  made  like  our  Master,  we  shall  see 
him  as  he  is  and  be  with  him  and  be  like  him  in  his 
glory  for  ever. 

This  is  the  end  of  the  sealing,  brother,  and  this  is 
the  day  of  redew/ption  unto  which  you  are  sealed  (Rom. 
viii.  23;  Eph.  i.  14).  We  are  already  redeemed  by 
price,  we  shall  then  be  redeemed  by  power ;  now  the 
sting  and  the  power  of  sin  are  taken  away,  then  the 
power  and  oppression  of  Satan  shall  be  broken,  then 
death  shall  be  destroyed  and  the  author  of  sin  and 
death  shut  up  for  a  thousand  years  in  the  bottomless 
pit,  so  that  the  kingdom  of  righteousness  and  peace 
may  fill  the  whole  world.  The  two  comings  of  Christ 
are  the  two  poles  of  the  Christian  system,  and  they  are 
both  called,  with  equal  truth,  "  the  day  of  redemption." 
The  former  was  the  hope  of  the  Jews ;  the  latter  is  the 
hope  of  the  Christians.  The  cross  is  the  foundation  on 
which  we  rest ;  the  crown  of  righteousness  at  the  coming 
of  the  Lord  is  our  animating  hope  in  the  battles  of  the 
faith.  Hence  the  constant  cry  for  the  day  of  redemj)- 
tion  alike  from  the  souls  under  the  altar  in  heaven  and 
from  the  persecuted  saints  upon  the  earth  :  Come,  Lord 
Jesus,  come  quickly.  May  the  good  Lord  make  us 
ready  to  meet  him  when  he  comes !  May  the  Holy 
Spirit  seal  us  unto  the  day  of  redemption ! 


340  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

"  Veni,  Sancte  Spiritus, 
Eeple  tiiorum  corda  fideliuni, 
Et  tui  in  eis  ignein  accende, 
Qui  per  diversitatem  linguarum  cunctaruiu 
Gentes  in  unitate  fidei  congregasti. 
Alleluia!  Alleluia!"* 


XI.  Bitterness,  Anger,  Wrath,  Clamor,  eto. 

Let  all  bitterness,  and  wrath,  and  anger,  and  clamor, 
and  evil  speaking,  be  put  away  from  you,  ivith  all  mal- 
ice (ver.  31). 

There  seems  to  be  a  climax  in  this  summary  of  evil 
passions.  He  begins  with  bitterness  {pikria,  "  points," 
"pricks,"  "pikes;"  the  adjective  from  it  means  "sharp"), 
which  refers  to  sourness  of  temper,  the  spirit  of  com- 
plaint, which  sees  all  things  from  a  false  position  and 
judges  all  persons,  events  and  tilings  according  to 
narrow-minded  prejudices  and  preconceived  ojnnions. 
This  pikria  may  not  be  a  passion  which  leads  to  wars 
and  commotions,  but  it  can  make  the  family  circle  very 
unlike  the  heaven  which  it  should  typify.  The  bitter- 
minded  man  has  points  and  corners  which  you  are  in 
danger  of  infringing  at  every  turn  ;  there  is  no  yield- 
ing to  the  o[)inion  of  others,  or,  if  so,  it  is  done  with  a 
bad  grace  and  in  bitterness,  so  that  the  deference  has 
only  increased  the  vinegar  or  the  venom  of  the  heart. 
This  is  the  merorah  of  the  Hebrews,  which  signifies  the 
sourness  of  unripe  grapes  (Deut.  xxxii.  32),  the  bitter- 
ness of  gall  and   the  poison  of  the  serpent.     Indeed, 

*  "  Come,  Holy  Spirit, 

Fill  the  heart  of  thy  faithful  ones, 
And  kindle  in  them  thine  own  fire^ 
Thou  who  through  the  diversity  of  all  languages 
Hast  congregated  the  Gentiles  in  the  unity  of  the  faith. 
Hallelujah  !  Hallelujah  !"  ' 


CHAPTEE  IV.    VERSES  17-32.  341 

among  the  Jews  bitterness  and  poison  were,  both  in  the 
mind  and  in  the  hmguage,  connected  with  each  other. 
Nothing  is  more  nnlike  the  patient,  loving  character  of 
Christ  than  this  spirit  of  bitterness.  It  is  opposed  to 
the  love  which  believeth  all  things,  hopeth  all  things 
and  beareth  all  things.  It  has  no  oil  to  pour  upon 
troubled  waters,  no  soft,  kind  answers  to  turn  away 
wrath,  no  sweet,  mild,  winning  looks  to  soothe  the 
asperities  of  human  life.  You  must  lay  aside  all 
this  bitterness :  it  is  not  the  characteristic  of  a  Chris- 
tian. 

Wrath  and  anger  are  often  associated  in  the  Script- 
ure, and  cannot  easily  be  distinguished  (Col.  iii.  8 ; 
Heb.  xi.  27;  Rev.  xii.  12).  They  are  violent,  fierce 
passions  which  overbear  the  control  of  reason ;  they 
unhinge  the  mind  and  destroy  for  the  time  the  reason- 
ing and  reflective  faculty.  The  Christian  should  put 
them  away  as  being  unworthy  of  the  name  and  charac- 
ter which  he  bears.  Love,  and  not  anger,  must  rule  in 
his  heart ;  patience,  and  not  wrath,  must  have  her  per- 
fect work.  Let  the  same  mind  be  in  you  which  was 
also  in  Christ,  who  when  he  was  reviled  reviled  not 
again,  and  when  he  was  buffeted  threatened  not.  Let 
truth,  holiness  and  love  flow  toward  heaven  in  a  still 
and  peaceful  course  unrufiled  by  the  winds  and  the 
gusts  of  passion.  The  rock  beneath  us  is  steadfast,  the 
heaven  above  us  is  serene,  and  the  God  whom  we  love 
and  serve  is  of  one  mind  for  evermore.  Why,  then, 
should  we  allow  the  cares  of  the  world  or  the  raging 
of  the  enemies  or  the  attacks  of  the  devil  to  stir  up 
our  minds  to  anger  and  wrath  ?  The  patient  Lamb, 
bearing  his  cross  to  Calvary,  is  not  the  type  and  leader 
of  such.     Neither,  beloved,  should    you    lift  up  your 


342  GEAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

voice  in  the  streets  nor  join  the  tumultuous  populace 
in  clamor  and  controversy  (Acts  xxiii,  9;  Eph.  iv.  31). 
The  noisiest  rivers  are  not  the  deepest,  and  the  Lord 
was  not  in  the  storm  nor  in  the  earthquake,  but  in 
the  still,  small  voice. 

Evil  speaking,  also  (Greek,  blasphemy),  is  forbidden 
by  the  royal  law  of  love  under  which  we  dwell.  Blas- 
phemy here  means  slander,  calumny  or  intentional 
defamation  of  character,  and  it  may  well  stand  at  the 
top  of  the  climax.  You  began  with  bitterness,  and 
it  has  led  you  thus  far ;  you  are  beyond  the  stages 
of  anger  and  wrath  and  clamor,  and  are  ready  for  the 
devil's  diploma  in  the  university  of  the  damned.  But 
I  will  restrain  myself  lest  I  become  what  I  would  lead 
you  to  avoid.  The  word  blasphemy  ("  evil  sj^eaking  ") 
is  used  in  reference  to  God  and  the  Holy  Spirit  (Matt, 
xii.  31 ;  xxvi.  Qi":) ;  Mark  ii.  7 ;  xiv.  64 ;  Luke  v.  21 ; 
John  X.  33 ;  E,ev.  xiii.  5,  6)  as  well  as  to  our  fellow- 
men,  and  in  both  cases  it  consummates  the  guilt  of 
the  wicked. 

This  gives  he  tongue  a  fearful  imj^ortance,  and 
may  well  justify  tlie  striking  language  of  the  apostle 
James  (iii.  3-10).  How  noble  is  the  right  use  of  the 
tongue !  A  good  converser  (there  are  only  a  few  his- 
torically celebrated  ones  in  English  history) ;  a  faithful 
preacher,  such  as  Paul  was  and  such  as  Cowper  de- 
scribed (Task,  book  ii.) ;  a  public  orator  in  tlie  high 
places  of  the  land,  leading  the  destnies  of  nations  and 
having  for  his  audience,  one  may  say,  the  civilized 
world, — these  are  examples  of  the  wonderful  power  of 
the  tongue  and  of  the  estimate  in  which  the  right  use 
of  it  is  held  among  men.  Even  so  cruel,  accursed 
and  execrable  is  the  bitter,  lying,  boastful,  clamorous, 


CHAPTER   IV.     VERSES   17-32.  343 

calumnious  tongue,  and  it  is,  or  ought  to  be,  in  an  equal 
degree  detested  and  despised. 

All  these  evil  monuments  of  the  old  man  are  to  be 
put  away  from  the  saints,  with  all  malice  or  ill-will. 
Kakia  ("  badness  ")  has  two  representatives  in  Hebrew. 
(See  Ex.  xxxii.  11,  12;  Isa.  xxix.  20.)  Xenophon 
makes  it  the  cowardice  of  the  soldiers  {Cyr.  2,  2,  27), 
and  in  the  New  Testament  it  means  malice  or  malignity 
(1  Cor.  V.  8;  Col.  iii.  8;  Tit.  iii.  3).  This  seems  to  be 
the  soil  out  of  which  all  the  others  grow,  the  fallen 
condition  of  the  natural  heart  in  which  so  many  evil 
passions  find  nourishment  and  scope.  Be  done  with 
them  all.  In  the  name  and  strength  of  God,  be  done 
with  them  all !  It  is  possible ;  grace  can  do  it,  and  God 
himself  commands  it. 

XII.   Three  Graces. 

Be  ye  kind  one  to  another,  tenderhearted,  forgiving 
one  another,  even  as  God  for  Chrisfs  sake  hath  for- 
given you  (ver,  32). 

Kindness,  tenderheartedness,  forgiveness,  are  here 
presented  to  us  as  the  attributes  of  the  new  man  and 
the  virtues  which  the  faith  of  Christ  inspires.  These 
are  some  of  the  active  duties  which  adorn  the  Christian 
character,  in  which  all  negative  and  positive  excellence 
should  unite  together. 

Kind  and  tenderhearted  are  to  be  distinguished  only 
in  degree,  as  they  both  show  the  beneficent  operations 
of  divine  mercy  and  love.  The  latter  is  much  the 
stronger  of  the  two  (well-boweled — viz.,  having  yearn- 
ing compassion,  1  Pet.  iii.  8),  and  denotes  the  pitying, 
grieving  afiection  with  which  love  looks  upon  misery. 
These  are  indeed   noble   graces,  and  tell  at  once  the 


344  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

fountain  from  which  they  flow,  even  the  forgiving  love 
of  God  in  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord — forgiving  one  an- 
other even  as  God,  for  Christ's  sake,  hath  forgiven  you. 
Oh,  noble  conduct,  and  still  nobler  motive !  Forgive 
one  another  as  God  in  Christ  (so  the  Greek)  hath 
forgiven  you ! 

Stripped  of  all  ornament  and  seen  simply  by  the 
eye  of  the  intellect,  the  verse  teaches  the  following 
propositions :  (1)  All  forgiveness  of  sin  is  the  act  of 
God's  grace ;  (2)  This  act  takes  place  through  the 
mediation  of  Christ ;  (3)  Christians  are  to  be  adorned 
with  the  noblest  moral  virtues ;  (4)  These  moral  vir- 
tues are  based  upon,  or  flow  from,  the  revealed  char- 
acter of  God ;  (5)  Assurance,  conviction,  certainty, 
should  be  the  condition  of  the  believing  soul :  God 
in   Christ  hath  forgiven  you. 

These  five  propositions  contain  more  truth  concern- 
ins;  God  and  man  than  is  to  be  found  in  the  entire 
literature  of  heathen  Greece  and  Rome.  Any  one  of 
these  many  times  outweighs  the  speeches  of  Cicero  and 
the  orations  of  Demosthenes. 

God  for  Chris fs  sake  hath  forgiven  you.  It  is  a  re- 
prieve from  the  God  of  heaven,  reaching  the  criminals 
on  the  road  to  the  execution.  It  in  a  moment  re-estab- 
lishes the  broken  link  between  God  and  his  creatures 
by  restoring  confidence  and  peace.  Being  forgiven,  we 
then  forgive ;  we  are  as  certain  that  God  has  forgiven 
us  as  are  others  that  we  forgive  them.  He  has  done  it, 
and  we  shall  do  it.  Jesus,  the  Head,  is  the  Receiver 
from  the  fount  of  divine  Majesty  ;  we  receive  the  heal- 
ing streams  from  him,  not  to  appropriate  them  or  con- 
ceal them,  but  to  dispense  the  water  of  life  to  all 
around. 


CHAPTER    IV.    VERSES   17-32.  345 

But  observe  here,  brother-man,  the  first  thing  to 
make  sure  of  is  this :  Has  God  forgiven  thee  ?  All 
other  questions  may  well  be  kept  in  abeyance  till 
this  be  answered,  and  this  must  be  answered  before  you 
can  be  kind  and  forgiving  to  others. — May  I,  then — 
must  I,  then — know  that  my  sins  are  forgiven  ? — You 
may,  and  you  must  if  you  would  exercise  the  virtues 
of  this  verse. — But  you  are  teaching  the  assurance  of 
faith. — Well,  yes,  I  am,  and  I  now  assert  that  no  be- 
liever in  the  New  Tedatiient  ever  expresses  a  doubt  of  his 
salvation. — Never  ?  Show  me  the  text ;  I  am  oj)en  to 
conviction  when  I  see  the  passage. — Mant's  exposition 
of  1  Cor.  ix.  27  is  false,  and  the  passage  teaches  the 
assurance  of  faith. — Then  in  that  case  I  should  say, 
"God  has,  for  Christ's  sake,  forgiven  me;  Jesus 
Christ  loved  me  and  gave  himself  for  rue  ;  what  shall 
separate  me  from  the  love  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  my 
Lord  ?  I  know  that  when  he  shall  appear  I  shall  be 
like  him,  for  I  shall  see  him  as  he  is.  I  have  fought  a 
good  fight,  I  have  finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  the 
faith ;  henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  the  crown  of 
righteousness,  which  the  Lord  will  give  me  at  his  com- 
ing. Behold  what  manner  of  love  the  Father  hath 
bestowed  upon  us,  that  we  should  be  called  the  sons  of 
God." — Yes,  my  brother,  such  is  the  strain  of  the  New 
Testament,  and  such  should  at  all  times  be  the  lan- 
guage of  the  believer.  The  doubting  faith  (a  contradic- 
tion) of  modern  times  the  holy  Scripture  knows  noth- 
ing about,  and  neither  did  the  Keformers  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  The  Council  of  Trent,  indeed,  condemns  this 
doctrine  as  Protestant,  under  the  title  of  ^ana  Jiducia 
hereticorum  ("the  vain  assurance  of  heretics"). 

But  enough  of  this.     Our  text  says,  "  Forgive,  as 

44 


^46  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

God  in  Christ  hath  forgiven  you."  Remember,  the 
source  of  forgiveness  is  not  simply  God,  but  God  in 
Christ — God  d'spensi  ]g  his  gifts  and  blessings  through 
the  Mediator  whom  he  has  appointed.  Approach,  then, 
and  drink  abundantly  from  the  fount  of  mercy,  for 
there  is  no  lock  on  the  door  of  the  Father's  house. 
He  meets  the  prodigal  and  in  fatherly  embraces  for- 
gives him ;  so  that  there  is  no  fear  of  repulsion  or  of 
refusal.  This  good,  kind,  forgiving  God  is  ours,  and 
we  may  well  take  refuge  under  the  shadow  of  his 
wing. 


CHAPTEE   X. 

Be  ye  therefore  followers  of  God,  as  dear  children  ;  and  walk  in  love, 
as  Christ  also  hath  loved  us,  and  hath  given  himself  for  us  an  offering 
and  a  sacrifice  to  God  for  a  sweetsmelling  savor.  But  fornication  and 
all  uncleanness,  or  covetousness,  let  it  not  be  once  named  among  you,  as 
hecometh  saints;  neither  filthiness,  nor  foolish  talking,  nor  jesting  which 
are  not  convenient :  but  rather  giving  of  thanks.  For  this  ye  know, 
that  no  whoremonger,  nor  unclean  person,  nor  covetous  man,  who  is  an 
idolater,  hath  any  inheritance  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ  and  of  God. 
Let  no  man  deceive  you  with  vain  words :  for  because  of  these  things 
cometh  the  wrath  of  God  upon  the  children  of  disobedience.  Be  not 
ye  therefore  partakers  with  them.  For  ye  were  sometime  darkness, 
but  now  are  ye  light  in  the  Lord :  walk  as  children  of  light  (for  the 
fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  in  all  goodness  and  righteousness  and  truth) ;  prov- 
ing what  is  acceptable  unto  the  Lord.  And  have  no  fellowship  with  the 
unfruitful  works  of  darkness,  but  rather  reprove  them.  For  it  is  a 
shame  even  to  speak  of  those  things  which  are  done  of  them  in  secret. 
But  all  things  that  are  reproved  are  made  manifest  by  the  light:  for 
whatsoever  doth  make  manifest  is  light.  Wherefore  he  saith.  Awake, 
thou  that  sleepest,  and  arise  from  the  dead,  and  Christ  shall  give  thee 
light.  See  then  that  ye  walk  circumspectly,  not  as  fools,  but  as  wise,  re- 
deeming the  time,  because  the  days  are  evil.  Wherefore  be  ye  not  un- 
wise, but  understanding  what  the  will  of  the  Lord  is.  And  be  not  drunk 
with  wine,  wherein  is  excess:  but  be  filled  with  the  Spirit;  speaking  to 
yourselves  in  psalms  and  hymns  and  spiritual  songs,  singing  and  mak- 
ing melody  in  your  heart  to  the  Lord;  giving  thanks  always  for  all 
things  unto  God  and  the  Father,  in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ; 
submitting  yourselves  one  to  another  in  the  fear  of  God.  Wives,  sub- 
mit yourselves  unto  your  own  husbands,  as  unto  the  Lord.  For  the 
husband  is  the  head  of  the  wife,  even  as  Christ  is  the  head  of  the  Church : 
and  he  is  the  Saviour  of  the  body.  Therefore  as  the  Church  is  subject 
unto  Christ,  so  let  the  wives  be  to  their  own  husbands  in  everything. 
Husbands,  love  your  wives,  even  as  Christ  also  loved  the  Church,  and 
gave  himself  for  it ;    that  he  might  sanctify  and  cleanse  it  with  the 


348  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

washing  of  water  by  the  word,  that  he  might  present  it  to  himself  a 
glorious  Church,  not  having  spot,  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing ;  but 
that  it  should  be  holy  and  without  blemish.  So  ought  men  to  love  their 
wives  as  their  own  bodies.  He  that  loveth  his  wife  loveth  himself.  For 
no  man  ever  yet  hated  his  own  flesh  ;  but  nourisheth  and  cherisheth  it, 
even  as  the  Lord  the  Church.  For  we  are  members  of  his  body,  of  his 
flesh,  and  of  his  bones.  For  this  cause  shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and 
mother,  and  shall  be  joined  unto  his  wife,  and  they  two  shall  be  one 
flesh.  This  is  a  great  mystery  :  but  I  speak  concerning  Christ  and  the 
Church.  Nevertheless  let  every  one  of  you  in  particular  so  love  his 
wife  even  as  himself;  and  the  wife  see  that  she  reverence  her  hus- 
band.— Ephesians  v. 

Children,  obey  your  parents  in  the  Lord  :  for  this  is  right.  Honor 
thy  father  and  mother  (which  is  the  first  commandment  with  promise) ; 
that  it  may  be  well  with  thee,  and  thou  may  est  live  long  on  the  earth. 
And,  ye  fathers,  provoke  not  your  children  to  wrath  :  but  bring  them  up 
in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord.  Servants,  be  obedient  to 
them  that  are  your  masters  according  to  the  flesh,  with  fear  and  trem- 
bling, in  singleness  of  your  heart,  as  unto  Christ ;  not  with  eye-service, 
as  men-pleasers ;  but  as  the  servants  of  Christ,  doing  the  will  of  God 
from  the  heart;  with  good  will  doing  service,  as  to  the  Lord,  and  not  to 
men :  knowing  that  whatsoever  good  thing  any  man  doeth,  the  same 
shall  he  receive  of  the  Lord,  whether  he  be  bond  or  free.  And,  ye 
masters,  do  the  same  things  unto  them,  forbearing  threatening :  know- 
ing that  your  Master  also  is  in  heaven ;  neither  is  there  resi^ect  of  per- 
sons with  him. — Ephesians  vi.  1-9. 

The  fifth  chapter  of  Ephesians,  like  the  fourth,  in 
entirely  practical,  and  teaches  the  believing  Church 
generally  what  is  to  be  sought  after  and  what  is  to 
be  avoided.  Jesus  Christ  is  indeed  ever  present  in 
the  duties,  trials  and  temptations  of  his  Church,  as 
well  as  in  the  doctrines,  promises  and  hopes  by  which 
she  is  animated.  "  God  in  Christ "  is  the  glorious  cen- 
tre round  which  revolves  everything  in  the  Church  <ik 
well  as  in  Scripture  and  the  hearts  of  his  people.  It  is 
with  the  Church  as  such  we  have  here  to  do,  as  there 
is  no  reference  to  classes  or  ofiices  till  we  come  to  the 
twenty-second  verse,  in  which  the  apostle  begins  to 
treat  of  our  social  duties  and  relations.     Let  us,  then, 


CHAPTEK    V.    VERSES   1-2.  349 

with  our  hearts  open  to  receive  the  truth  wherever  we 
find  it  and  our  eye  upon  God,  who  alone  can  teach 
it,  examine  this  fine  passage  of  practical  theology,  in 
which  we  shall  see  the  apostle  unfolding  tlie  relations 
in  which  God  and  Christ,  sin  and  the  sinner,  the 
Church  and  holiness,  stand  to  each  other. 

I.  Imitators  of  God. 

This  first  verse  brings  out  the  startling  command  or 
exhortation,  ''Be  ye  therefore  followers  of  God,  as  dear 
children.''  The  Greek  has  the  stronger  expression, 
imitators,  which,  indeed,  is  necessary  to  bring  out  the 
meaning  and  connection  of  the  ]  assage.  The  verse 
is  closely  bound  to  the  one  foregoing  by  the  particle 
therefore,  which  shows  the  motive  of  the  imitation  to 
be  God's  forgiving  love.  God  in  Christ  has  forgiven 
you,  and  therefore,  as  dutiful  and  loving  children, 
you  are  bound  to  imitate  him.  His  will,  his  way  and 
his  purpose  must  be  yours,  so  that  one  law  and  one 
life  may  pervade  the  whole  family.  Read  carefully  the 
following  scriptures :  1  Cor.  iv.  16  ;  xi.  1  ;  Eph.  v.  1  ; 
1  Thess.  i.  6;  ii.  14;  Heb.  vi.  12;  1  Pet.  iii.  Ill 

There  is,  therefore,  an  imitative  prmciple  planted  in 
the  nature  of  man,  and  we  have  the  following  ques- 
tions to  ask  concernino;  it. 

M7^st.  What  is  the  source  and  origin  of  it?  We 
observe,  in  reply,  that  God  in  the  beginning  created 
us  in  one  head ;  so  that  Headship  is  the  very  law  and 
order  in  both  the  kingdom  of  nature  and  the  kingdom 
of  grace.  One  life  flows  through  the  human  family, 
and  one  blood  unites  them  in  a  common  brotherhood. 
This  great  principle  has  been,  and  is,  fully  developed 
in  the  history  of  mankind.     We  were  all  created  in 


350  GRAHAM   ON   EPHESIANS. 

Adum,  and  we  all  fell  in  his  fall ;  Noah  became  the 
head  of  the  world,  and  in  him  we  escaped  the  deluge ; 
Shem,  Ham,  Abraham,  Ishmael,  were  all  heads  througli 
whom  the  curse  or  the  blessing  flowed,  and  still  con- 
tinues to  flow,  upon  their  descendants.  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  Head  of  the  new  dispensation,  and  the  universal 
law  of  our  creation  and  preservation  has  been  mani- 
fested and  sealed  in  him.  Here,  then,  we  have  the 
principle  in  its  widest  sense,  inasmuch  as  the  head  and 
the  members  must  resemble  one  another.  What  else 
are  the  family,  the  Church  and  the  State  but  differ- 
ent circles  of  headship  where  imitation  and  obedience 
should  be  the  rule  ?  Besides,  did  not  God  create  us  in 
his  image  and  likeness  ?  He  is  a  King,  and  he  created 
us  a  royal  race,  from  whom,  notwithstanding  the  fall, 
God's  kings  and  priests  are  to  be  taken  (Rev.  i.  6).  He 
is  a  Father ;  paternity  is  a  divine  relation  in  the  God- 
head, and  he  has  created  the  human  family  to  manifest 
and  develop  it  as  a  part  of  t  e  image  of  God  himself. 
What  is  the  divine  mystery  of  the  Trinity  ?  Is  it 
not  this — that  there  are  three  divine  Persons  in  one 
divine  nature?  The  principle  is  unity  in  diversity — 
many  in  one — three  persons  in  one  Godhead  ;  all  which 
is  not  more  mysterious  than  the  human  race,  which  con- 
tains the  same  mystery  of  many  persons  in  one  and  the 
same  nature.  If  many  human  persons  may  exist  in  one 
human  nature,  surely  three  divine  persons  may  exist  in 
one  divine  nature.  In  fact,  the  human  race  is  distin- 
guished from  the  angels — is  the  monument  in  time 
which  God  has  erected  to  the  value  and  importance 
of  the  eternal  generation  of  Christ.  This,  then,  is  the 
source  of  the  imitative  principle  in  us ;  we  are  created 
in  his  image  by  divine  grace,  and  thus,  even  though 


CHAPTER  V.     VERSES   1-2.  351 

fallen,  we  are  enabled  to  imitate  him — indeed,  cannot; 
but  imitate  him,  since  his  life  is  in  us. 

Second.  But  tchat  is  the  extent  of  it  f  This  is  very 
great  indeed.  All  language  is  acquired  by  imitation, 
so  that  without  it  the  faculty  of  sj^eech  would  be  use- 
less ;  all  education  depends  on  it ;  all  trades,  schools 
and  professions  proceed  from  it;  without  it  the  prog- 
ress and  the  civilization  of  the  human  race  would  cease 
for  ever  and  endless  barbarism  overflow  the  world.  All 
this  is  only  typical  (as  are  all  things)  of  the  new  and 
eternal  life  which,  as  believers,  we  receive  from  the 
God-Man  in  heaven.  Grace  uses  all  the  channels  and 
currents  of  our  fallen  nature  and  gives  them  a  proper 
direction.  The  imitative  principle  was  never  so  nobly 
developed  as  in  the  seed  of  life  which  Christianity  sowed 
among  the  nations.  Look  down  from  the  hills  into  the 
city  of  Nazareth,  where  the  eye  can  distinguish  the  sol- 
itary Nazarene  as  he  commences  his  public  ministry ; 
or  see  him  in  the  midst  of  the  twelve  apostles,  strug- 
gling against  the  wickedness  of  the  world ;  or  number 
the  one  hundred  and  twenty  disciples  who  acknowl- 
edged him  as  their  Master,  and  then  follow  this  little 
b:ind  in  affliction  and  persecution  and  cruel  deaths,  and 
see  how,  in  spite  of  all  opposition,  the  seed  of  right- 
eousness grows  and  flourishes  through  tears  and  ago- 
nies and  blood  until  Judaism  is  overthrown  and  hea- 
thenism is  subjugated  and  Christianity  ascends  the 
throne  of  the  Csesars.  It  is  the  principle  of  imita- 
tion ;  like  produces  like  in  the  great  moral  regenera- 
tion which  proceedeth,  and  shall  not  cease  till  the  great 
purpose  of  God  be  accomplished  and  the  whole  family 
be  brought  into  their  Father's  house.  It  is  the  Spirit's 
work  to  make  us  imitators  of  God,  as  dear  children. 


352  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

May  he  speedily  perfect  this  good  work  in  the  hearts  of 
all  his  people ! 

"  Lava  quod  est  sordidum  ; 
Riga  quod  est  aridum ; 
Sana  quod  est  saucium."  * 

Nor  is  there  any  reason  to  believe  that  this  principle 
of  assimilation  shall  cease  with  the  present  state  of 
existence.  No ;  we  shall  be  growing  up  into  the  like- 
ness and  character  of  the  adorable  Jehovah  for  ever 
and  ever — eternally  approaching,  and  at  an  infinite 
distance  still ;  always  receiving,  and  ever  becoming 
capable  of  receiving,  more  and  more  from  the  ocean- 
fullness  of  our  heavenly  Father's  love. 

Third.  The  object  is  God.  This  is  most  important, 
and  distinguishes  Christianity  from  all  other  systems. 
We  are  brought  into  contact  with  the  divine  Being 
himself,  that  the  feelino;  and  sense  of  his  nearness  mav 
influence  and  purify  our  minds.  We  behold  him,  the 
Source  of  all  goodness  and  perfection,  in  the  face  of 
Jesus  Christ — God,  our  God,  Creator,  Redeemer  and 
Father,  who  dwells  among  us  as  he  did  among  the 
Israelites  of  old,  and  leads  us  with  a  surer  guidance 
than  the  pillar  and  the  cloud.  Idolatry  is  a  darkening 
of  the  character  and  the  perfections  of  God ;  the  many 
mediators  of  the  papists  are  an  attempt  to  remove  the 
mind  and  heart  from  the  direct  and  purifying  presence 
of  the  living  God ;  images,  pictures,  formalities  and 
ritualism  of  every  form  are  so  many  efforts  of  the 
natural  corrupt  heart  to  get  away  to  a  distance  from 
the    Holy    One — to   be  relieved   from   the  duty  com- 

*  "  Wash  our  souls  and  make  them  clean ; 
Fructify  and  make  them  green ; 
Heal  where  thev  have  wounded  been." 


CHAPTER    V.     VERSES   1-2.  358 

manded  by  the  apostle :  "  Be  ye  therefore  imitators  of 
God,  as  dear  children."  The  nearer  we  are  to  the 
Fountain  of  perfection,  the  more  perfect  we  must  be. 
The  face  never  shines  so  brightly  as  when  we  remain 
long  on  the  mount  with  God ;  and  the  very  reason 
given  for  our  becoming  like  the  Redeemer  in  his  king- 
dom is  that  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is  (1  John  iii.  2). 
Surely  there  is  nothing  so  ennobling  to  the  human 
character  as  the  contemplation  of  the  being  and  attri- 
butes, the  wisdom,  mercy  and  beneficence,  of  God. 
His  universe  and  the  laws  which  regulate  its  mysteri- 
ous movements  are  a  noble  study,  and  one  which  tends 
to  destroy  the  dwarfishness  of  our  natural  dimensions 
)\v  giving  us  large  and  far-reaching  thoughts.  But  we 
are  here  led  to  God  himself,  tli£  Author  and  Sustainer 
of  the  mighty  system — not  the  laws,  but  the  Lawgiver ; 
not  the  work,  but  the  Workman;  not  the  dull,  dark 
masses  of  a  cold  materialism,  but  the  living,  personal, 
eternal  God  who  gives  it  all  its  glory  and  all  its  beauty. 
Fourth.  Never  forget,  however,  the  important  clause 
in  the  verse :  ^^As  dear  children^  As  such  only  can 
we  imitate  our  heavenly  Father.  The  child  looks  to 
the  father  for  counsel  and  guidance,  for  fond  protection 
and  defence.  We  are  made  his  children  by  faith  in 
Christ  and  adopted  into  the  family  of  God  by  grace. 
This  is  the  adoption  so  often  mentioned  in  the  Script- 
ures— the  new  birth  from  above,  the  new  nature  and 
the  new  heart ;  it  is  the  same  in  substance  as  conver- 
sion, repentance  and  the  translation  from  darkness  into 
the  kingdom  of  light.  All  these  are  different  sides  of 
the  same  subject,  and  are  intended  to  delineate  in  a 
various  and  striking  manner  the  change  that  takes 
place  in  the   soul  when  the    prodigal    returns   to    his 

45 


354  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

father.  As  his  dear  children  we  are  to  follow  his  Son 
whithersoever  he  goeth,  knowing  that  all  things  shall 
work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love  him.  He 
treats  us  as  dear  children,  giving  us  all  things  richly  to 
enjoy  and  holding  out  to  our  hopes  the  promises  of  a 
bright  and  glorious  future.  He  opens  the  fountains  of 
his  mercy,  and  invites  us  to  drink ;  he  unites  us  to 
himself  by  his  love,  and  says,  "  Follow  me,"  "  Imitate 
me." 

This  active  service,  however,  is  more  especially  men- 
tioned in  the  second  verse,  which  contains — 

II.  The  Walk  in  Love  and  the  Sacrifice  of 
Christ, 

And  walk  in  love,  as  Christ  also  hath  loved  us,  and 
hath  given  himself  for  us  an  offering  and  a  sacrifice  to 
God  for  a  sweetsmelling  savor  (ver.  2). 

It  is  remarkable  how  doctrines  and  duties  are  inter- 
woven together  in  the  Bible.  The  system  of  divine 
teaching  differs  from  all  human  plans  of  education  in 
this — that  unity  pervades  diversity ;  and  the  doctrines 
of  grace,  which  indeed  are  nothing  but  a  delineation 
of  the  character  of  God,  without  any  formal  statement, 
without  the  least  effort  at  theory  and  systematizing,  are 
felt  all-present  everywhere  as  the  compelling  motive 
and  vivifying  principle  of  the  whole.  We  have  not 
one  chapter  on  faith  and  another  on  works,  one  on  the 
incarnation  and  another  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity, 
}is  we  find  in  human  compositions.  No;  God  is  every- 
where brouo;ht  into  contact  with  man.  His  love  meets 
our  coldness,  his  mercy  meets  our  transgressions,  and 
his  Son's  dying  love  is  the  motive  of  our  service  to 
him :  "  Walk  in  love,  as  Christ  also  hath  loved  us." 


CHAPTER  V.     VERSES  1-2.  365 

First.  Here  the  believe7'^s  life  is  compared  to  a  ivalk 
(so  in  Hebrew,  Prov.  vi.  22),  which  denotes  activity 
and  energy  as  well  as  a  distinct  and  definite  direction. 
We  have  left  Egypt  on  our  journey  for  the  heavenly 
country ;  and  while  there  are  enemies  before  and  be- 
hind us,  many  difficulties  in  ourselves  and  our  com- 
panions and  in  the  nature  of  the  road,  we  have  still  the 
manna  from  the  heavens  and  the  water  from  the  rock, 
and  the  fiery  pillar  to  lead  us  on.  This  is  the  same 
idea,  differently  expressed,  which  the  agon  or  "  race  " 
suggests  to  the  mind  (Heb.  xii.  1).  This  world  is  the 
stadium  where  the  race-contests  are  exhibited  in  a 
nobler,  grander  manner  than  among  the  old  Romans, 
The  Greek  ago7i  (whence  comes  our  "  agony  ")  signifies 
the  race,  the  fight,  the  struggle  of  the  new  man  w^ith 
the  sins,  temptations  and  afflictions  of  life ;  the  runners 
are  the  professors  of  the  Christian  name ;  the  course  is 
the  way  of  holiness — the  blood-sprinkled  path  whieli 
Jesus  trod ;  the  spectators  are  the  angels  and  the 
glorious  cloud  of  witnesses  that  surround  us ;  and  the 
rewards  are  the  crowns  which  the  Saviour  gives  the 
conquerors — the  crowns  of  life,  of  righteousness  and 
of  glory.  This,  too,  seen  from  another  point  of  view, 
is  the  battle  of  life,  the  spiritual  warfare  (1  Tim,  vi.  12  ; 
2  Tim.  iv.  7)  waged  from  the  beginning  between  the 
seed  of  the  woman  and  the  seed  of  the  serpent ;  the 
two  kingdoms  which  divide  the  universe — the  Cains 
and  the  Abels,  the  Sauls  and  the  Davids,  the  goats 
and  the  sheep,  the  fiesh  and  the  spirit;  a  warfare  not  yet 
ended,  nor  to  be  ended  till  the  Captain  of  our  salvation 
comes  from  heaven.  This  walk  must  be  in  love ;  the 
pilgrimage,  the  battle  and  the  race  are  all  to  be  con- 
ducted in  the  spirit  of  holy  love ;  and  the  motive  is  to 


356  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

l)e  found  in  the  constraining  love  of  Christ :  "  Walk  in 
love,  as  Christ  also  hath  loved  us." 

Second.  We  now  come  to  the  sacrifice  of  Christ, 
which  is  the  fullest  manifestation  of  his  love:  ''He 
hath  given  himself  for  us  an  offering  and  a  sacrifice 
to  God  for  a  sweetsmelling  savor''  It  is  not  a  little  mar- 
velous with  what  pertinacity  some  modern  writers,  even 
of  the  most  orthodox  kind,  as  Meier,  Riiekhert,  Usteri 
and  others,  deny  in  this  passage  all  reference  to  the 
expiation  of  Christ.  De  Wette  does  not  deny  it,  but 
says  it  is  not  to  be  insisted  uj)on.  Even  Olshausen 
admits  that  it  is  not  the  suffering,  but  the  obedience,  of 
Christ  that  is  well-pleasing  to  God.     (See  Isa.  liii.  10.) 

Let  us  observe  the  words  of  the  passage :  ''He  gave 
himself  for  us^ 

Take  for  here  in  whatever  sense  you  please,  it  can 
refer  only  to  the  dying  love  of  Christ.  He  gave  him- 
self above  us  to  ward  off  the  stroke  of  vengeance ;  he 
gave  himself  instead  of  us  (Rom.  v.  7,  8 ;  Phil.  i.  29) 
as  the  ransom  to  redeem  the  devoted  victim  ;  or  he 
gave  himself  on  account  of  us  that  by  his  death  he 
might  procure  for  us  the  blessings  of  the  gospel.  His 
giving  himself  for  us  can  refer  only  to  his  death.  In 
his  life  he  gave  us  many  gifts,  such  as  the  doctrines  of 
grace,  the  assurance  of  his  Father's  love,  the  example 
of  perfect  holiness ;  but  in  his  death  he  gave  himself 
for  us  as  an  offering  and  a  sacrifice  to  God.  These 
two  words  show  the  fullness  and  the  perfection  of  the 
expiation.  All  gifts  and  eucharistic  oblations  of  the 
law  {phosphorce;  Minclia)  were  fulfilled  and  ended  in 
him,  as  well  as  the  bloody  sacrifices  of  the  altar  {thu- 
sfa,  Heb.  V.  1 ;  vii.  27  ;  viii.  8 ;  ix.  9,  2:5 ;  x.  1,  11,  12, 
20)  which  prefigured  the  great  atonement.     Christ  our 


CHAPTER  V.    VERSES  1-2.  357 

Passover  is  sacrificed  for  us  (1  Cor.  v.  7),  and  this 
glorious  expiation  is  well-pleasing  to  God.  (Comp. 
Lev.  i.  9 ;  Gen.  viii.  21.) 

If  God,  the  sovereign  and  moral  Governor  of  the 
world,  was  not  well  pleased  with  the  death  of  Jesus, 
his  incarnate  Son,  as  the  vindicator  and  fulfiller  of  the 
broken  law,  why  did  he  send  him  to  assume  our  na- 
ture? Why  were  the  ancient  sacrifices  appointed? 
and,  above  all,  why  is  it  written  (Isa.  liii.  10),  "It 
pleased  the  Lord  to  bruise  him "  ?  Were  the  eyes  of 
the  Lord  not  open  when  the  Jews  and  the  Eomans 
were  preparing,  in  horrid  mockery  and  scorn,  their 
bleeding  victim  for  the  cross?  or  was  his  arm  short- 
ened that  he  could  not  save?  Oh  no,  my  brother! 
He  saw  it  all,  and  his  fatherly  heart  bore  it  all  out  of 
love  to  thee.  Out  of  tender  compassion  to  thee  he 
allowed  the  Son,  the  eternal  Son,  to  drink  the  bitter 
cup  of  death  and  vindicate  the  sanctions  of  a  violated 
law.  This  is  the  doctrine  of  the  cross  in  which  Paul 
gloried,  and  which  has  ever  been  the  attraction  of 
weary  and  anxious  souls;  and  so  it  must  continue  to 
be  till  sin  ceases  to  be  sinful  or  God  to  be  holy.  God 
forbid,  therefore,  that  we  should  glory  save  in  the  cross 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  the  world  is  cruci- 
fied unto  us  and  we  unto  the  world. 

Yes,  O  thou  great  Redeemer !  we  take  refuge  in  thy 
cross  and  glory  only  in  thine  atoning  death!  Thou 
hast  borne  the  curse  for  us,  and  in  thy  bitter  pains  we 
see  thine  own  and  thy  Father's  love  to  a  sinful  world. 
Help  us,  O  Lamb  of  God  that  takest  away  the  sins  of 
the  world !  help  us  to  serve  and  love  thee  more  and 
more,  until  finally  we  enter  into  thy  glorious  king- 
dom !     Amen. 


358  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

III.    The  Character  of  The  Saints;  Warnings 
AND  Exhortations  (ch.  v.  3-21). 

The  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  requires  the 
motives  to  be  pure  and  the  conduct  upright.  It  is  a 
holy  gospel,  and  the  fruits  which  it  brings  forth  in  the 
life  and  conversation  must  be  the  fruits  of  righteous- 
ness, which  are  to  the  praise  and  honor  of  our  Father 
in  heaven.  The  vices  so  common  among  the  Greeks 
and  Romans — which,  indeed,  were  not  only  tolerated 
and  winked  at,  but  allowed  and  provided  'for  by  the 
f^tate — must  be  rooted  out  from  the  soil  of  the  heart 
by  grace. 

First.  The  first  of  these  is  porneia,  "  fornication  " — 
a  vice  which  in  the  ancient  world  prevailed  universally, 
and  in  the  time  of  Augustus  had  fearfully  depopulated 
the  empire.  It  prevents  marriage  and  tends  directly  to 
the  dissolution  of  all  the  bonds  which  hold  society  to- 
gether. (For  the  evils  of  this  vice  and  the  Scripture 
denunciations  against  it,  read  Matt.  xv.  19 ;  Mark  vii. 
21 ;  Rom.  i.  29 ;  1  Cor.  vi.  13,  18 ;  vii.  2 ;  2  Cor.  xii. 
21 ;  Gal.  v.  19  ;  Eph.  v.  3  ;  C^ol.  iii.  5  ;  1  Thess.  iv.  3 ; 
Rev.  ix.  21 ;  John  viii.  41.)  It  is  sufficiently  distin- 
guished from  adultery  (Matt.  xv.  19;  Mark  vii.  21 ; 
John  viii.  3 ;  Gal.  v.  19)  in  the  Scripture,  yet  it  is  ap- 
plied to  the  adulterer  (Matt.  v.  32 ;  xix.  9)  and  to  the 
incestuous  person  (1  Cor.  v.  1).  It  is  remarkable  how 
often  it  is  used  mystically  for  idolatry,  or  forsaking  the 
true  God  for  idols,  which  is  based  on  its  application  to 
the  adulteress  (Rev.  ii.  14,  20;  xvii.  2;  xviii.  3-9). 
.'Comp.  Ezek.  xxiii.  19 ;  Hos.  xi.  1.)  Hence  the  apos- 
tate Church  called  Babylon,  the  seductress  of  the  kings 
of  the  earth,  is  "  the  great  pome,  or  whore,"  which  sit- 


CHAPTER    V.     VERSES  3-21.  369 

teth  on  the  scarlet-colored  beast,  drunken  with  the  blood 
of  the  martyrs  of  Jesus  (Rev.  xvii.  1-16;  xix.  2). 
Thus  the  most  terrible  and  blasphemous  apostasy 
the  world  has  ever  seen  is  called  fornication  or  whore- 
dom, which  shows  the  fearful  enormity  of  the  vice. 

Second.  Unclean ness  is  a  wider  term,  and  includes 
the  former.  "All  uncleanness "  no  doubt  refers  here 
specially  to  the  unnatural  sins  connected  with  the  cit- 
ies of  the  plain  and  to  otlier  similar  enormities  which 
degrade  human  nature  beneath  the  instincts  of  the 
brute.  These  were  common  among  the  heathen,  as 
their  literature  and  remaining  monuments  of  sculp- 
ture and  statuary  abundantly  prove,  and  at  the  pres- 
ent day  the  whole  Eastern  world  groans  under  the 
same  enormous  crimes. 

The  apostle  adds  covetousness,  which,  from  its  Greek 
derivation,  signifies  "  having  more,"  the  desire  to  have 
more,  or  greed  (Mark  vii.  22 ;  Luke  xii.  15  ;  Kom.  i. 
29;  Col.  iii.  5;  1  Thess.  ii.  5;  2  Pet.  ii.  3,  14).  It 
means  also  extortion,  the  amor  sceleratus  habendi  of  the 
Latins,  which  the  Scotch  render  "  hell-fire  greed ;"  and 
surely  there  is  nothing  more  contrary  to  the  character 
of  the  gospel  and  that  of  its  divine  Author.  The 
covetous  man  is  called  an  idolater  (ver.  5).  He  has 
given  up  the  God  of  the  Bible  and  taken  up  with 
Plutus  and  Mammon  as  his  master  and  rewarder,  and 
his  worship  becomes  more  and  more  intense  by  the 
daily  increase  of  his  treasures.  "A^noi'  pecunice  crescit 
quantum  pecunia  ipsa  crescit'^ — viz.,  "His  greed  in- 
creases with  his  gain  ;  his  eye  rests  with  delight  on 
the  golden  god  "  (Nummos  contemplor  in  Area,  Horace, 
Satires  i.  QQ)  in  whom  his  heart  delights,  and  the  true 
living  God  is  forgotten.     This  is  indeed  idolatry,  and 


360  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

shuts  out  from  the  kingdom  of"  lieaven  (Phil,  iii,  19; 
Col.  iii.  o). 

These  things  are  not  to  be  named  among  the  saints  ; 
the  very  mention  of  them  is  unbecoming  the  profession 
ye  have  made.  Ye  belong  to  him  who  is  holy,  and  the 
words  of  your  lips  as  well  as  the  works  of  your  hands 
should  produce  only  works  of  righteousness.  Hence 
(ver.  4)  fiUhiness  (base,  vile  words  and  actions)  and 
foolish  talking  and  jesting,  fine  turns  in  discourse, 
double  meanings,  urbanity  in  the  bad  sense  of  the 
word,  attractive  Atticisms, — all  these  are  inconvenient 
and  do  not  suit  the  character  of  the  children  of  God. 
They  must  never  be  uttered  in  the  meetings  of  the 
saints ;  all  this  is  condemned  by  the  pure  morality  of 
the  gospel.* 

Third.  Note  also  in  this  fifth  verse  the  words  "  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  and  of  God^''  where  in  Greek  tlie 
first  noun,  "  Christ,"  has  the  article,  and  the  second, 
"  God,"  has  not ;  and  hence  Bengel,  Beza,  Middleton 
and  others  translate  "  the  kingdom  of  Him  who  is 
Christ  and  God  "  on  the  ground  that  if  two  jDersons 
were  meant  the  article  must  be  repeated  before  "  God." 
Harless,  indeed,  maintains  that  the  words  can  have  no 
other  meaning,  though  he  will  not  say  that  Paul  meant 
that  by  them.  So  completely  has  the  fear  of  critics 
mastered  the  love  of  orthodoxy !  On  which  Meyer 
cries  out,  "  Oh,  weak  and  inconsistent  exegesis !  your 

*  In  verse  5,  ^ore  is  by  most  modern  critics  rejected  for  /ore ;  the  mean- 
ing is  absolutely  the  same  in  both  cases,  but  in  the  latter  the  Hebraism 
is  very  harsh  and  hardly  justifiable  by  the  laws  of  that  language.  The 
Hebrews  say,  "knowing  ye  shall  know,"  but  never  "ye  shall  know, 
knowing."  (See  Acts  vii.  34;  Heb.  vi.  14;  Matt.  xiii.  14.)  If  the  au- 
thorities finally  decide  in  favor  of  tare,  we  shall  have  one  of  the  most 
curious  constructions  in  the  New  Testament. 


CHAPTER    V.     VERSES  3-21.  361 

criticism  is  false,  Christ  is  not  here  called  God.  dtoz 
('  God ')  needs  no  article ;  besides,  Paul  was  too  rigid 
a  monotheist  to  call  Christ  'God,'  and  he  never  does 
so  in  any  one  of  his  Epistles."  This  is  just  a  single 
specimen  of  the  sweeping  assertions  of  German  neolog- 
ical  critics.  This  takes  for  granted  many  things  that 
require  to  be  proved :  (1)  That  Paul  did  not  write  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews ;  (2)  That  Theos  ("  God  ")  is 
not  the  correct  reading  in  1  Tim.  iii.  16  ;  (3)  That 
Rom.  ix.  5  should  be  read  as  a  doxology ;  (4)  That 
Paul  w^as  a  more  rigid  monotheist  than  John,  who  is 
admitted  to  have  called  Christ  "  God ;"  and  (5)  Meyer 
takes  for  granted,  in  the  sweeping  assertion  above  men- 
tioned, that  his  own  interpreta:!on  of  this  verse  is  the 
right  one.  Now,  I  deny  every  one  (  f  thes;',  and  assert 
that  they  are  every  one  false.  Paul  did  write  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  and  did  call  Christ  "  God  "  (i. 
8,  9,  10) ;  God  is  the  correct  reading  in  1  Tim.  iii.  16  ; 
Rom.  ix.  5  cannot,  according  to  the  Greek  language,  be 
read  as  a  doxology ;  John  and  Paul  were  of  the  same 
opinion  concerning  Christ,  and  both  of  them  call  him 
"  God ;"  and,  lastly,  I  defy  Meyer  to  prove  that  6  deoQ 
xat  Xpiaro^  must  mean  two  persons.  The  Greek  rule  is 
this  :  "  Two  nouns  joined  together  by  and,  the  first 
having  the  article,  and  the  second  not,  both  refer  to 
the  same  person." 

Let  us  now  consider  the  usage  of  the  New  Testament 
in  this  important  matter.  "  God  and  Father  "  is  a  com- 
mon phrase  in  Scripture,  and  it  never  signifies  two  per- 
sons, but  one  only  (2  Cor.  i.  3 ;  xi.  31  ;  Eph.  i.  3 ;  1 
Thess.  i.  3;  Col.  i.  3;  Rev.  i.  6).  In  all  these  pas- 
sages the  first  noun  has  the  article,  j  nd  the  second  has 
not;  and  they  are  both  descriptive  of  the  same  person. 

46 


362  GRAHAM    ON    EPHP^SIANS. 

Now,  I  demand  why  6  Xpiarac:  xm  deoc:,  "  the  Christ  and 
God,"  should  be  translated  differently?  So,  I  main- 
tain, by  the  same  rule,  2  Thess.  i.  12  should  be  rendered 
"  according  to  the  grace  of  our  God  and  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."  This  is  the  natural  translation ;  and  so 
strongly  is  it  felt  to  be  critically  incapable  of  any 
other  that  Winer,  forgetting  his  character  as  a  critic, 
simply  solves  the  difficulty  by  saying  the  aj^ostle  used 
xofjcoi:  for  6  xofno!: — that  is,  he  wrote  bad  grammar  and 
Winer  will  correct  him,  but  he  by  no  means  intended 
to  call  Christ  "  God  " !  This,  indeed,  solves  the  diffi- 
culty, if  there  be  any  difficulty,  but  it  does  so  by  des- 
ecrating and  corrupting  the  word  of  God.  The  same 
celebrated  grammarian,  in  reference  to  Tit.  ii.  13,  says 
he  finds  ground  in  the  doctrinal  system  of  Paul  for  be- 
lieving that  the  words  "  the  great  God  and  our  Saviour  " 
do  not  refer  to  one  and  the  same  person.  But  this  is 
admitting  that  critically  and  grammatically  they  do  : 
and  this  is  indeed  so  manifest  that,  so  far  as  I  know, 
no  critic,  ancient  or  modern,  has  ventured  to  assert  the 
contrary.  It  is  easy  to  find  reasons  in  our  own  minds 
or  in  our  preconceived  opinions  for  denying  the  God- 
head of  Christ ;  but  when  we  interj)ret  Scripture,  we 
must  follow  the  usages  of  language ;  and  I  repeat  it : 
the  kingdom  of  Christ  and  of  God  in  this  passage  is 
"  the  kingdom  of  him  who  is  Christ  and  God."  I  say 
the  same  of  Jude  4.  The  examples  quoted  by  Meyer 
(1  Cor.  vi.  9,  10;  xv.  20  f  Gal.  v.  21)  are  nothing  to 
the  23urpose,  if  he  could  show  that  such  forms  as  "  lie 
that  eateth  and  drinketh"  (John  vi.  54),  "he  that  seeth 
and  heareth"  (Rev.  xxii.  8),  "the  Lord  and  Saviour" 
(2  Pet.  ii.  20;  iii.  18)  and  "  God  and  Father"  must 
necessarily  refer  to  two  persons,  and  not  to  one  only. 


CHAPTER    V.     VERSES   3-21.  363 

Until  this  is  done  nothing  is  done,  and  we  must  con- 
tinue to  believe  that  the  doctrine  of  the  deity  of  Christ 
is  not  only  very  plainly  stated  in  the  word  of  God,  but 
is  so  interwoven  with  the  expressions  of  the  apostles 
tliat  it  cannot  be  extracted  w.thout  destroying  the 
sense  and  significancy  of  the  wh  le  Scripture. 

Fourth.  But  what  is  the  inheritance  of  this  fifth 
verse  ?  It  is  that  ennobling  hope  of  glory  from  which 
the  idolater  is  shut  out,  but  which,  brightening  above 
the  children  of  God,  sustains  them  in  their  pilgrim- 
age and  gives  them  a  foretaste  of  their  eternal  home 
(Acts  XX.  32;  Gal.  iii.  18;  Eph.  i.  14,  18;  v.  5 ;  Col. 
iii.  24;  Heb.  ix.  15;  1  Pet.  i.  4).  The  Israelites  had 
their  bondage  and  their  deliverance ;  their  iron  furnace 
and  the  paschal  lamb  which  redeemed  them ;  their 
wanderings  in  the  wilderness,  with  fearful  difficulties 
contending,  but  guided  by  the  pillar  and  fed  by  the 
manna  from  heaven  ;  they  murmured,  rebelled  and  were 
very  stiff-necked  against  the  Lord  and  his  servants,  but 
the  one  great  hope  sustained  them  through  it  all  and 
made  them  finally  triumjDhant — the  hope  of  the  Prom- 
ised Land,  where  they  might  serve  the  Lord  in  the 
beauty  of  holiness  without  fear.  Oh,  hope  is  indeed 
the  solace  of  the  wretched,  the  balm  for  all  wounded 
and  weary  hearts.  And  have  we  too  the  hope  of  an 
inheritance,  or  has  the  coming  of  Christ  to  die  for  us 
exhausted  all  the  fullness  of  God,  so  that  all  is  now 
faith  and  there  is  nothing  more  to  hope  for  ?  Oh  no, 
brother,  no !  The  ocean-fullness  of  Jehovah's  grace 
and  mercy  and  glory  is  not  exhausted ;  new  dejDths  of 
love  and  new  heights  of  glory  will  attract  and  entrance 
the  enlarged  and  adoring  mind  for  ever.  We  too  have 
our  manna  and  the  streams  from  the  spiritual  rock ;  we 


364  GKAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

too  have  a  heavenly  country  before  us,  where  God  is 
not  ashamed  to  be  called  our  God.  We  shall  have  a 
temple  nobler  than  the  beautiful  house  of  old,  where 
the  Lord  God  and  the  Lamb  shall  be  the  light  thereof; 
a  palace  with  many  mansions,  where  all  the  family  of 
God  shall  dwell ;  a  rest  that  remains  for  the  people  of 
God,  of  which  Baxter  hath  spoken  so  sweetly ;  a  com- 
mon inheritance  with  all  the  saints  in  the  goodness  and 
bounty  of  our  heavenly  Father,  in  the  love  and  like- 
ness of  our  divine  Master,  for  ever.  This  is  the  king- 
dom promised  to  the  saints  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world — not  the  kingdom  of  righteousness  and  peace  and 
joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  kingdom  of  grace  wliich  we 
at  present  enjoy,  but  the  kingdom  of  majesty,  power 
and  glory  which  we  enter  partially  into  the  enjoyment 
of  at  death,  and  fully  at  the  resurrection  of  the  right- 
eous dead,  when  the  kingdom  shall  come  and  the  glory 
of  the  Lord  shall  cover  the  whole  earth. 

These  words,  therefore,  ''the  kingdom  of  Christ," 
the  reign  of  the  Son  of  man,  should  fill  our  hearts 
with  the  highest  hopes  and  the  noblest  aspirations. 
This  is  the  day  of  man  (1  Cor.  iv.  3,  Greek),  that  is 
the  day  of  Christ ;  now  sin  prevails,  then  righteousness 
shall  prevail;  Satan  is  now  seeking  whom  he  may 
devour,  then  he  shall  be  shut  up  and  imprisoned  for 
a  thousand  years ;  now  sin  mars  or  sullies  all  the 
noblest  work  and  efforts  of  men,  then  holiness,  love 
and  joy  shall  fill  all  hearts  and  the  presence  and  bless- 
ing of  the  all-perfect  God  shall  make  all  things  else  per- 
fect. Death  shall  not  divide  us  any  more,  temptation 
shall  not  beset  us  any  more,  anger  and  wrath  no  longer 
trouble  our  blessedness ;  our  day  shall  no  more  decline 
and  the  night  of  our  sorrow  shall  be  ended.     We  shall 


CHAPTER    V.    VERSES  3-21.  365 

]>e  with  the  King  whom  here  on  earth  we  loved  and 
served  in  weakness  and  in  tears,  even  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Beloved  of  our  souls,  in  whom  all  beauty,  holiness  and 
perfection  meet ;  more  wonderful,  more  lovely,  more 
adorable,  from  the  contrasts  and  extremes  which  are 
realized  in  his  person — lowliness  and  majesty ;  man- 
hood in  its  purity  and  Godhead  in  its  vastness ;  the 
tears  of  sympathy  for  our  woes  and  the  eyes  of  fire  to 
wither  up  iniquity  ;  the  Lion  and  the  Lamb  united  ; 
the  Sceptre-Bearer  of  the  world  and  the  Burden- 
Bearer  of  our  sins ;  the  Son  of  the  Virgin,  the  Son 
of  Abraham,  the  Son  of  David,  the  Son  of  man  and 
the  Son  of  God. 

O  thou  King  of  glory,  how  we  desire  to  see  thee ! 
How  beautiful  art  thou  in  thy  kingdom !  Come, 
O  thou  Beloved  of  our  souls,  come  quickly !  Amen. 
Even  so  come.  Lord  Jesus ! 

Fifth.  We  come  now  to  the  vain  words  of  the  sixth 
verse,  which  very  probably  were  the  delusive  asser- 
tions of  Greek  philosophers  and  sophists,  having  no 
reality  of  truth  in  them.  (See  Matt.  xii.  3 ;  Luke  xx. 
10, 11.)  Vain  also  means  "  fruitless,"  "  without  effect  " 
(Acts  iv.  25;  1  Cor.  xv.  10,  14,  58;  1  Thess.  ii.  1)  ; 
and  these  philosophical  babblings  could  produce  no 
fruit  to  the  benefit  of  man  or  to  the  honor  of  God.  In 
our  text  the  word  rather  means  fallacious,  deceptive 
(Col.  ii.  8;  comp.  Ex.  v.  9;  Hos.  xii.  1,  Septuagint), 
lying  words,  by  which,  from  without  or  from  among 
themselves,  they  might  be  led  to  abandon  the  hopes  of 
the  gospel.  They  were  thus  exposed  to  the  wrath  of  God, 
the  punishment  due  to  the  children  of  disobedience. 

But  is  there  wrath  in  God  ?  Ask  the  angels  whom 
he  cast  down  to  Tartarus  and  still  retains  in  chains ; 


366  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

a.sk  the  flaming  cherubim  who  banished  Adam  from 
Paradise ;  ask  the  antediluvians  who  perished  in  the 
Deluge ;  ask  the  cities  of  the  phiin  as  tlie  devouring 
element  consumes  them ;  ask  the  scattered  nation  of 
Israel,  stripped  and  peeled  and  wasted  by  the  curse  of 
eighteen  hundred  years !  There  is  fierce,  burning 
wrath  in  God  against  all  ungodliness  and  transgression. 
The  coming  of  Christ  is  to  be  in  flaming  fire  to  take 
vengeance  on  ungodly  man ;  the  Scripture  doctrine  of 
hell  shows  the  anger  of  God  against  sin  ;  and  why 
does  the  natural  conscience  tremble  at  the  idea  of  a 
righteous  and  holy  God  ?  Why  the  thousand  shifts 
to  which  it  resorts  in  order  to  appease  him  ?  Be 
assured,  then,  that  there  is  wrath  in  God,  and  that  the 
finally  impenitent  shall  not  escape  his.  vengeance. 

Sixth.  Darkness  and  light  (ver.  7,  8,  9).  Be  ye  not 
partakers  with  them.  Why  should  you  give  up  the 
noble  hopes  of  the  gospel  for  the  lying  promises  of  de- 
ceivers and  seducers,  seeing  that  by  experience  ye  know 
that  the  end  of  these  things  is  death  ?  Ye  were  former- 
ly darkness,  and  the  enemy  of  your  souls  seeks  again 
to  entangle  you  in  the  by-ways  of  delusion.  Our 
natural  state  is  darkness ;  there  is  no  light  in  the 
hidden  depths  of  the  soul  by  which  she  can  ascend  out 
of  the  turmoil  and  destruction  that  rage  around  her 
into  the  liberty  and  dignity  of  a  life  well-pleasing  to 
God.  All  the  civilization  of  which  the  heathen  na- 
tions can  boast  is  but  the  whitewashing  of  a  nauseous- 
sepulchre — the  speckled,  glittering  skin  which  the  ser- 
pent has  put  on ;  but  the  poisonous  venom  flows 
through  the  veins  notwithstanding,  and  must  continue 
to  flow  and  augment  there  if  the  Serpent-Bruiser 
should  not  follow  the  footsteps  of  the  destroyer  an<l 


CHAPTER    V.     VERSES   3-21.  367 

CKpel  the  corrupting  element  by  the  light  of  life.  He 
has  done  so  in  your  case,  and  his  blessed  word  declares, 
"  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world."  This  is  nothing  else 
than  the  change  of  heart  and  life  indicated  by  the 
various  Scripture  expressions  "  new  name,"  "  new 
nature,"  "  new  heart,"  "  new  birth,"  "  faith,"  "  repent- 
ance," "  conversion,"  and  such-like,  which  are  all  based 
upon  the  great  truth  that  nature  can  do  nothing  for  us 
and  grace  must  do  everything ;  that  there  is,  in  fact, 
no  hope  of  peace  or  prosperity  for  us,  here  or  hereafter, 
until,  yielding  to  the  entreaties  of  divine  mercy,  w(! 
are  translated  from  the  kingdom  of  darkness  into  the 
kingdom  of  God's  dear  Son.  How  glorious  the  name! 
How  high  the  privileges !  Behold  what  manner  of 
love  the  Father  hath  bestowed  upon  us — that  we 
should  be  called  the  sons  of  God.  Do  not  deceive 
yourselves  with  the  hopes  of  the  children  of  God  if  ye 
are  walking  in  darkness ;  for  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is 
in  all  goodness,  righteousness  and  truth.  His  presence 
in  the  children  of  God  is  made  manifest  by  their  love 
of  truth,  holiness  and  goodness. 

Manifold  and  various  are  the  clusters  of  this  spiritual 
fruit  (fruit,  not  fruits)  which  adorn  the  branches  of  the 
living  Vine  (Gal.  v.  22).  He  is  the  life  of  the  deml 
heart ;  the  sap  that  flows  through  the  trees  of  God ; 
the  blood  that  circulates  in  the  mystical  body ;  the 
cement  of  the  temple  of  God.  Like  the  wind,  he 
breathes  upon  the  dry  bones  and  regenerates  them  ; 
like  the  oil  of  gladness,  he  medicates  the  wounded 
Samaritans ;  like  the  fire  of  Pentecost,  he  baptizes  us 
with  burning  love  to  God  and  man  ;  like  the  dewdrops 
of  the  morning  or  the  rain  upon  the  mown  grass,  he 
revives  the  heritage  of  God  when  it  is  weary.     He  is 


368  GKAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

the  Fertilizer,  the  Restorer,  the  Fruit-Bi-inger,  the 
Comforter,  whose  work  is  in  the  hearts  of  believers, 
even  as  Jesus  the  Mediator,  who  sent  him,  has  his 
place  and  his  work  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father  in 
heaven.  Jesus  prepares  the  place,  and  the  Spirit  pre- 
pares the  person  ;  Jesus  by  his  ex})iation  removes  all 
barriers  that  prevented  divine  mercy  from  reaching  us, 
and  the  Spirit  by  drawing  us  to  tlie  cross  removes  the 
impediments  which  would  keep  us  from  receiving  it ; 
Jesus  gives  the  food,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  the  appetite 
to  enjoy  it.  Hence  it  is  that  when  walking  as  tlie  chil- 
dren of  God  and  bringing  forth  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit 
we  are  able  to  prove  what  is  acceptable  to  the  Lord. 
Seventh.  This  acceptability  (ver.  10)  is  the  very 
highest  and  noblest  of  all  human  attainments,  and  in 
proportion  as  it  is  sought  for  and  reached  marks  the 
progress  of  the  soul  in  the  life  of  faith.  To  be  living 
or  dead  is  of  comparatively  little  importance,  seeing 
a  very  few  years  at  the  longest  must  end  this  mortal 
state ;  wherefore  we  labor  that,  whether  absent  or 
present,  we  may  be  accepted  of  him  (2  Cor,  v.  9). 
This  is  the  important  end  and  business  of  life — even 
so  to  regulate  our  thoughts,  words  and  actions  in  the 
fear  and  love  of  God  that  our  whole  life  may  be  pleas- 
ing to  him.  Our  sleep  reminds  of  the  sleeping  of  the 
saints  in  Jesus  ;  our  rising,  clothing,  washing  and  re- 
union in  the  morning  are  the  daily  types  and  anticipa- 
tions of  the  purity,  freshness  and  beauty  of  the  saints 
when  they  shall  assemble  around  the  Lord  in  the  morn- 
ing of  the  resurrection.  Our  morality  is  pure  and  holy  ; 
we  hate  even  the  garments  spotted  by  the  1  esh,  and 
our  great  aim,  in  life  and  deatli  and  all  things,  is  to 
please  God. 


CHAPTER    V.     ^^EKSES  3-21.  369 

Eighth.  Works  of  darkness  (ver.  11,  12).  Hence, 
our  fellowship  is  with  him,  and  not  with  the  "  unfruit- 
ful U'orks  of  darkness.'^  (See  1  Tim.  v.  20.)  These  are 
the  works  of  man  in  his  unrenewed  state,  and  the 
apostle  assures  us  they  are  unfruitful,  they  are  not 
well-pleasing  to  God.  These  are  the  dead  works 
(Heb.  vi.  1 ;  ix.  14)  which  do  not  spring  from  faith, 
and  which  lead  men  to  destruction  (Rom.  vi.  21 ;  viii. 
12;  Gal.  vi.  8;  Eph.  iv.  22).  These  are  the  "wicked 
works  "  (Col.  i.  21)  and  the  "  works  of  the  flesh  "  (Gal. 
v.  21)  which  are  directly  opposed  to  the  fruit  of  the 
Spirit  and  manifest  the  carnal  mind,  which  is  enmity 
against  God.  Have  no  fellowship  with  them ;  reject 
them,  condemn  them,  rep:ove  tl  em. 

The  twelfth  verse  gives  the  reason  :  "For  it  is  a 
shame  even  to  speak  of  those  things  that  are  done  of 
them  in  secret^  The  very  mention  of  their  crimes  is 
scandalous.  What  these  enormities  were  is  manifest  in 
tlie  history  of  heathenism,  and  Paul  refers  to  some  of 
them  (Rom.  i.  22-32).  It  is  well,  however,  to  observe 
that  the  words  in  secret  take  for  granted  the  existence 
of  an  original  conscience  in  man,  which,  however  dark 
in  itself  and  darkened  by  evil  habits,  is  not  willing 
to  have  the  light  of  day  thrown  in  u;  on  its  doings. 
They  are  ashamed  to  be  known  as  the  authors  of  such 
evil  deeds,  and  honest  men  are  ashamed  even  to  name 
them.  How,  then,  shall  they  meet  God  ?  What  must 
be  their  shame  and  confusion  before  the  judgment-seat 
of  Christ !  This  is  the  deadening  nature  of  sin,  that 
it  seeks  concealment  and  cannot  endure  the  presence 
of  God,  while  the  ennobling  aim  of  the  Christian  is  to 
do  what  is  pleasing  in  Ifis  sight.  The  man  without  the 
wedding-gar;nent  was  speechless.     The  awe-struck  con- 

47 


370  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

science  will  at  last  stand  silent  under  the  overwhelming 
consciousness  of  guilt.  May  God  deliver  us  from  the 
guilt  and  power  of  sin  ! 

The  thirteenth  verse  has  given  the  critics  not  a  little 
to  do,  and  those  who  wish  to  see  their  opinions  may 
consult  Meyer.  Our  English  translation  is  clear  and 
consistent;  and  if  the  text  can  be  proved  to  bear  it, 
the  difficulty  is  removed.  The  more  natural  transla- 
tion of  the  last  clause,  however,  is  this :  "  Whatsoever 
is  made  manifest  is  light " — viz.,  belongs  to  the  light, 
or,  as  Olshausen  says,  is  changed  into  light. 

Ninth.  The  gospel  call.  "  Wherefore  he  saith,  Aivake, 
thou  that  steepest,  and  arise  from  the  dead,  and  Christ 
shall  give  thee  lighV  (ver,  14).  The  formula  "where- 
fore he  saith"  does  not  refer  to  any  passage  in  the  Old 
Testament  which  Paul  here  quotes,  for  there  is  no  such 
passage.  Harless  and  Olshausen  try  to  refer  it  to  Isa. 
Ix.  1,  but  without  success.  De  Wette  insinuates  that 
it  was  a  slip  of  the  apostle's  memory,  which  surely 
borders  on  irreverence.  Better  say,  with  Calvin  and 
others,  that  the  apostle  speaks  as  the  representative  and 
the  ambassador  of  God,  thus  :  "  Wherefore  he,  God,  now 
speaking  in  me,  saith.  Awake,  thou  that  sleepest,"  etc. 
Campbell  supplies  the  word  gospel :  "  Wherefore  the 
gospel  saith,"  etc.  Others  put  in  the  word  Scripture  : 
"  Wherefore  the  Scripture  saith,"  etc.,  meaning  the 
Scripture  generally,  and  not  any  particular  passage. 
It  is,  however,  far  more  imj^ortant  to  attend  to  the 
substance  than  to  the  mere  form  of  the  address,  and 
we  learn  from  it  tliree  important  truths. 

(1)  That  the  natural  man  is  asleep,  and  requires  to 
be  wakened  ;  dead,  and  requires  the  power  of  God  to 
quicken  him  ;  a  child  of  wrath  (E2:)h.  ii.  o),  and  needs 


CHAPTER  V.     V1':RSES  3-21.  371 

the  pardoning  mercy  of  God.  This  is  the  weighty 
doctrine  of  Paul  and  of  the  whole  Scripture,  and  upon 
it  rest  the  need  and  the  necessity  of  a  Redeemer. 

(2)  The  will  of  man  must  concur  with  the  power  of 
God  in  this  awakening  from  the  sleep  of  death;  he 
must  attend  to  the  voice  of  his  Father's  love ;  he  must 
drink  of  the  streams  which  grace  has  opened ;  he  must 
receive  the  gift  which  the  Creator  sends,  or  he  cannot 
become  a  son  (John  i.  12);  he  must  obey  the  authority 
which  says  to  him,  "  Turn  ye,  turn  ye,  why  will  ye 
die?"  This  is  an  important  truth,  and  is  everywhere 
taken  for  granted  in  the  Bible. 

(3)  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Light-Giver,  and  he  gra- 
ciously promises  to  suppl}^  all  their  need  in  the  as- 
surance, "Christ  shall  give  thee  light."  Thee,  my 
brother — he  will  give  thee  light.  To  thee  his  call  is 
directed ;  thy  soul  is  dear  to  him,  for  he  bore  thee  on 
his  bosom  on  the  cross  when  he  died.  His  eye  is  upon 
thee ;  his  ear  is  open  to  thy  call ;  and  now  the  very 
voice  of  God  says,  "  Awake,  arise,  and  Christ  shall 
give  thee  light."  He  is  truly  the  Light  of  the  world, 
and  truth,  holiness  and  peace  follow  in  the  train  of  his 
gospel.  Compare  Europe  with  Africa  and  see  what 
blessings,  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual,  the  gospel 
brings  to  the  nations.  Compare  Britain  with  Spain 
and  Italy  and  see  what  ennobling  effects  the  free  use 
of  the  Scriptures  has  upon  the  kingdoms  of  the  world. 
Shine  forth,  O  thou  Sun  of  righteousness,  upon  the 
dark  places  of  the  earth,  that  the  whole  world  may 
be  filled  with  thy  praise !  There  is  no  light  to  irra- 
diate the  chamber  of  the  heart  or  the  mansion  of  the 
tomb ;  none  but  thine,  O  Lord,  to  guide  us  safely  in 
the  bitter  waters  of  death.     Shed  forth  the  beams  of 


872  GKAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

thy  beauty,  O  thou  Light  and  Joy  of  the  whole  workl, 
and  let  us  now  walk  in  the  light ;  for  the  night  conieth 
when  no  man  can  work. 

Tenth.  As  wise.  ''''See  then  that  ye  walk  circum- 
spectly,  not  as  fools,  but  as  wise,  7'edeemi7ig  the  time, 
because  the  days  are  eviV^  (ver.  15).  Wisdom,  next 
to  love,  is  one  of  the  noblest,  sweetest  virtues,  and  for 
the  daily  affairs  of  life  much  more  important  than 
l)Ower  or  high  attainments  in  understanding.  The  an- 
cient Greeks  boasted  that  they  were  the  ao(poc  ("  soph- 
ists"), the  wise  men  of  the  world,  and  thought,  no 
doubt,  that  wisdom  would  die  with  them.  Pythagoras, 
one  of  the  wisest  of  them,  saw  their  presumption  and 
modestly  took  the  name  of  "  friend  of  wisdom  "  [philos- 
ophos),  or  philosopher,  which  has  descended  to  our 
time,  having  lost  the  original  signification  only  so  far 
as  that  denoted  modesty.  The  Druses  of  Mount  Leb- 
anon make  the  same  division  of  mankind,  calling  the 
initiated  into  their  mysteries  Akkal,  "  the  wise  men," 
and  the  uninitiated  Jehhal,  "  the  fools,"  for  whom  there 
is  no  salvation.  This  same  division  runs  through  the 
word  of  God  also,  and  makes  the  only  radical,  per- 
manent distinction  among  the  children  of  men.  We 
have  the  wise  and  the  foolish  virgins,  the  wheat  and  the 
tares,  the  sheep  and  the  goats,  the  good  and  the  bad, 
the  new  and  the  old  man,  the  renewed  and  the  un- 
renewed. This  is  the  dividing-line  to  which  God  looks 
in  the  day  when  he  makes  up  his  jewels,  and  he  re- 
gards no  other.  The  rich  and  the  poor,  the  learned  and 
the  ignorant,  the  civilized  and  the  semi-barbarous,  are 
of  little  account  before  him.  The  national  distinctions 
of  which  we  make  our  boast,  the  various  Church 
parties  who   are  divided   by  names,  clauses  {Filioque 


1 


CHAPTER    V.    VERSES  3-21.  373 

divides  the  East  from  the  West)  and  partition-walls 
which  God  never  built,  are  all  sunk  and  submerged  in 
the  one  radical  division  of  which  heaven  and  hell 
are  born — the  wise  and  the  foolish,  those  with  oil  in 
their  lamps  and  those  without  it.  Grace  or  no  grace, 
faith  on  the  Son  of  God  or  no  faitll, — that  is  the  ques- 
tion which  divides  the  sjoecies,  and  shall  divide  them 
for  evermore. 

See,  then,  that  ye  walk  circumspectly — accurately, 
pointedly,  on  the  points,  the  steps,  the  promises — look- 
ing well  where  you  set  your  feet.  Such  is  the  idea  of 
the  Greek.  See  then  how  {tzok  never  means  "  that ") 
ye  walk  circumspectly — viz.,  see  in  what  manner  ye 
can  best  attain  the  end  in  view,  to  wallv  circumspectly, 
redeeming  the  time,  for  the  days  are  evil.  So  De 
Wette,  Beza,  Luther  and  almost  all  the  translators. 

Eleventh.  Evil  days.  ^'' Redeeming  the  time,  because 
the  days  are  eviV^  (ver.  16).  In  the  days  of  the  apos- 
tles the  followers  of  the  Lord  were  surrounded  with 
evils  of  the  most  appalling  kind.  Judaism  was  their 
mortal  enemy  and  diligently  sought  their  destruction  ; 
heathenism  treated  them  as  miscreants  detested  by  gods 
and  men — heathenism  in  all  its  developments,  with  its 
established  rites  and  gorgeous  ceremonies  and  statelv 
temples  and  proud  traditions  of  conquest,  stability  and 
glory.  Like  their  Master,  they  had  not  where  to  lay 
their  heads.  They  had,  indeed,  faith,  which  kept  them 
above  the  surging  elements  by  uniting  them  with  the 
Son  of  God  in  heaven,  but,  so  far  as  this  world  was 
concerned,  they  were  of  all  men  the  most  miserable  (2 
Cor.  vi.  3-12).  They  were  hunted,  rejected,  despised, 
crucified.  Their  life  was  a  continual  martyrdom,  and 
their  death  was  the  triumph  of  faith.     They  shunned 


374  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

the  waves  of  iniquity  by  the  sacrifice  of  their  lives, 
and  after  multitudes  were  slain  the  blood  of  the  martyrs 
became  the  seed  of  the  Church  and  the  Lord  brought 
to  naught  all  the  counsels  of  their  enemies.  The  days 
may  be  more  or  less  evil  at  different  times,  but  the 
whole  period  of  the  Bridegroom's  absence,  when  the 
friends  of  the  Bridegroom  should  fast  (Matt.  ix.  15), 
are  evil  days.  These  are  the  "last  days"  (Heb.  i.  2), 
and  the  "latter  times"  (1  Tim.  iv.  1),  and  the  "last 
times"  (1  Pet.  i.  20),  and  the  "day  of  man"  (1  Cor. 
iv.  3,  in  the  Greek),  and  the  "last  hour"  (1  John  ii. 
18,  meaning  of  the  present  age;  see  John  v.  25,  28, 
where  "  hour"  means  a  long  period),  and  the  "  present 
evil  age  "  (aion,  Gal.  i.  4) ,  from  which  Christ  died  to 
deliver  us.  Thus  the  whole  "  course  or  age  "  {daou  too 
xo^fjtoo,  Eph.  ii.  2)  "  of  the  world,"  from  the  beginning 
until  the  second  advent,  is  characterized  as  evil,  inas- 
much as  the  life-and-death  struggle  of  the  two  king- 
doms is  going  on  in  it,  and  sin  is  increased  and  mul- 
tiplied in  it,  and  death  the  destroyer  triumphs  over  us 
during  it,  and  Satan  the  roaring  lion  continues  to  rage 
against  us  until  the  evil  days  are  ended.  Hence  the 
hope  of  the  Church  is  ever  directed  to  the  coming, 
when  the  new  age  is  to  begin  and  underneath  us  is  to 
rise  a  new  earth  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness.  Till 
sin  be  restrained  by  the  power  of  almighty  God,  till 
death  be  obliterated  from  the  bodies  and  souls  of  believ- 
ers, till  Antichrist  and  his  faction  be  swept  from  the 
face  of  the  earth  and  given  to  the  burning  flame  (Rev. 
xix.  20;  Dan.  vii.  11),  till  Satan,  the  liar,  be  impris- 
oned in  the  bottomless  pit,  I  see  no  prospect  of  an  end 
to  these  evil  days — none,  none !  On  the  contrary,  the 
evil  is  to  increase  more  and  more,  and  love  is  to  wax 


CHAPTER    V.     VERSES  3-21.  375 

colder  and  colder,  and  Satan  is  to  roar  and  rage  the 
more  vehemently,  as  the  time  of  the  end  approaches. 
It  is  the  delusion  of  the  present  age  that  we  are  riding 
victoriously  into  millennial  hlessedness  on  the  back  of 
a  progressive  series  of  moral  and  religious  ameliora- 
tions !  What  a  delusion !  How  contrary  to  the  word 
of  God !  What !  a  reign  of  righteousness  before  Anti- 
christ is  slain  and  the  devil  cast  out  ?  No,  my  brother  ! 
The  days  are  evil  still  ;  therefore  let  us  watch  and  be 
diligent,  redeeming  the  time.  No  rest  save  the  rest  of 
faith  till  the  Rewarder  comes  with  many  crow^ns  upon 
his  head  ;  no  folding  of  tlie  arms  to  sleep  while  grace 
is  free  and  souls  are  perishing.  Oh  that  we  felt  in 
reality  the  evil  of  these  days  !  Oh  that  we  understood 
what  the  Lord  would  have  us  to  do ! 

Twelfth.  The  will  of  the  Lord.  "  Wherefore  be  ye  not 
unwise,  but  understanding  what  the  will  of  the  Lord  is  " 
(ver.  17).  The  argument  of  the  apostle  is  this:  Sin 
abounds,  the  days  are  evil,  wherefore  be  not  unwise,  but 
understanding  what  the  will  of  the  Lord  is.  Ye  must 
discern  the  signs  of  the  times  that  ye  may  ascertain  the 
will  of  God  therein,  as  ye  judge  of  the  nearness  of  the 
summer  by  the  budding  of  the  fig  tree  (Matt.  xxiv.  32, 
o3).  He  speaks  to  us  no  more  from  the  top  of  Sinai ; 
no  more  do  his  prophets  bear  their  heavy  burdens  to 
the  nations ;  no  longer  does  a  miraculous  apostolic  min- 
istry relieve  our  doubts  and  silence  our  fears.  Nature 
holds  on  her  silent  course  uninterrupted  by  the  arrests 
of  her  Master's  hand.  We  have  the  Bible  without  us 
and  the  Spirit  of  God  within  us,  and  with  these  we 
must  seek  to  understand  what  is  the  w^ill  of  the  Lord. 
Our  testimony  must  suit  the  times.  This  is  a  word 
especially  given  to  pastors.     Ye  should  know  the  will 


376  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

of  the  Lord  as  to  the  state  of  your  churches,  and  act 
accordingly ;  the  sluinberers  must  be  awakened,  the 
presumptuous  must  be  checked  and  the  superstitious 
must  be  led  to  the  simplicity  of  the  gospel.  In  a 
sleepy,  lethargic  age  the  testimony  must  go  forth  on 
the  winds  of  heaven,  and  with  a  voice  of  thunder,  to 
shake  the  pillows  from  all  arm-holes  and  arouse  the 
sleeping  virgins  to  a  sense  of  their  danger.  In  an  age 
like  the  present,  when  all  powers  are  stirring  themselves 
and  preparing  for  the  conflict,  infidelity,  superstition 
and  tyranny — ^the  leaven  of  the  Sadducee,  the  leaven 
of  the  Pharisee  and  the  leaven  of  Herod — all  working  in 
the  heaving  mass  and  waiting  for  the  moment  when  the 
angels  that  restrain  them  shall  let  loose  the  tempests 
upon  the  earth, — oh,  in  such  a  time  we  who  bear  the 
name  of  Jesus  should  not  be  as  fools,  but  as  wise,  re- 
deeming the  time  and  understanding  what  is  the  will 
of  the  Lord.  Let  us  put  on  the  whole  armor  of  God, 
that  we  may  be  able  to  stand  fast  in  the  evil  days  ! 
Thirteenth.  The  contrast :  wine  and  Spirit.  ^''And 
be  not  drunk  with  wine  wherein  is  excess  ;  but  be  filled, 
with  the  Spirit  "  (ver.  18).  In  this  train  of  thought 
the  apostle  mentions  one  disgusting  vice  which  is  par- 
ticularly to  be  avoided — namely,  drunkenness — inas- 
much as  it  gives  full  license  to  the  lusts  of  the  flesh 
and  leads  to  all  kinds  of  debauchery.  It  was  a  very 
early  practice,  and  it  continues  to  have  a  very  extensive 
sway  in  the  world.  (See  Prov.  xx.  1 ;  xxiii.  2,  30 ; 
Isa.  V.  11,  22 ;  Luke  xxi.  34.)  The  vine  is  one  of  the 
good  gifts  of  God,  and  in  many  countries,  but  especially 
in  the  East,  it  supplies,  not  the  rich  with  an  article  of 
luxury,  but  the  common  people  with  an  extensive  arti- 
cle of  food.     It  is  not  the  use,  but  the  abuse,  of  wine 


CHAPTER    V.    VERSES  3-21.  377 

which  is  forbidden.  Mohammed,  indeed,  did  not  see 
this  distinction,  for  he  forbade  wine  altogether  in  every 
form,  though  many  of  his  followers  disregard  his  in- 
junctions. In  the  East  I  have  seen  few  instances  of 
intoxication ;  the  wines  are  light  and  healthful,  thougli 
certainly  a  great  quantity  would  intoxicate.  The  best 
and  finest  old  wines  are  found  in  the  convents  of 
Mount  Lebanon,  where  the  monks  are  always  well 
supplied. 

The  evils  of  drunkenness  are  these  :  It  relaxes  the 
powers  of  reason  and  self-government ;  it  degrades, 
stupefies  and  brutalizes  the  character ;  it  wastes  time 
and  money  and  bodily  and  mental  *vigor ;  it  ruins  the 
temper  of  the  mind  and  the  peace  of  the  family,  the 
comfort  of  the  wife  and  the  prospects  of  the  children 
and  the  hopes  of  a  glorious  future.  It  is,  in  fact,  as 
this  verse  teaches,  the  devil's  mockery  and  mimicry 
of  the  joy,  power  and  consolation  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
The  drunkard  is  deceived,  imagining  that  he  is  great 
and  wise  and  excellent,  that  he  is  wdiat  he  is  not  and 
can  do  what  he  cannot,  which  is  nothing  but  the  Satan- 
ic imitation  of  being  filled  with  the  Spirit  of  God,  by 
whom  the  believer  obtains  real  power  to  accomplish 
what  nature  never  could,  and  joy  of  heart  far  surpass- 
ing anything  this  world  can  afford.  This  power  and 
presence  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  hearts  of  believers 
is  the  compensation  which  the  Lord  has  given  us  to 
make  up  for  the  loss  of  the  Saviour's  j^ersonal  presence 
(John  xiv.  16,  17),  and  the  person  and  personal  offices 
of  the  Comforter — his  operations  both  in  the  head  and 
in  the  members,  as  well  as  his  constant  intermediating 
between  them — are  fully  and  frequently  described  in 
the  Holy  Scriptures. 

48 


378  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

This  passage  says,  "  Be  filled  not  with  wine,  but  with 
the  Holy  Ghost."  The  Church  is  the  body  of  Christ, 
and  the  Holy  Ghost  is  the  quickening  S2:)irit  that 
anoints  it;  the  Church  is  the  vessel  of  God's  mercy, 
and  he  is  the  Water  of  Life  held  forth  in  it  to  the 
thirsty  world  (Acts  i.  5 ;  ii.  4  ;  vi.  5 ;  vii.  55) .  He  is 
indeed  a  blessed  Comforter  to  guide  and  glorify  the 
children  of  God.  He  is  the  last  gift  of  the  Father  to 
the  children  of  men ;  whose  witness  being  rejected,  there 
is  none  to  come  after  him,  and  nothing  remains  for  the 
desolate  bosom  but  an  eternity  of  darkness  and  des2:)air. 
Oh  what  love,  what  grace,  from  our  God  and  Father, 
what  tenderness  and  compassion  in  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  are  revealed  to  us  in  the  exhortation,  "  Be  ye 
filled  with  the  Spirit "  !  The  Father  has  promised  the 
heavenly  gift  from  the  times  of  old ;  Jesus,  the  Son,  the 
risen  King  and  Lord  of  mankind,  has  ascended  to  the 
right  hand  of  God  to  shed  abroad  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit 
as  he  pleases ;  and  now  the  exhortation  reaches  your 
ears,  "Ask  and  receive,  that  your  joy  may  be  full." 
The  fountain  overflows,  and  if  ye  perish  it  is  your  own 
doing ;  the  x'ullness  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  presented  to 
your  acceptance,  and  if  ye  remain  cold  and  comfortless 
and  alienated  from  God  it  is  by  putting  away  from  you 
the  overtures  of  your  Father's  love.  Be  filled  with 
the  Spirit.  Turn  ye,  turn  ye,  why  will  ye  die  ?  There 
is  bread  for  the  prodigal,  and  water  for  the  thirsty  soul, 
and  life  eternal  in  the  merciful  heart  of  God  for  you 
all.  Hell  was  not  made  for  you,  but  for  the  devil  and 
his  angels.  There  is  no  right  in  hell  for  any  of  you, 
and  nothing  but  your  blindness  and  impenitency  can 
send  you  there !  Again  I  say,  "  Be  filled  with  the 
Spirit."     Turn  ye,  turn  ye,  why  will  ye  die? 


CHAPTER    V.     VERSES  3-21.  379 

Fourteenth.  Heart-melody.  "  Speaking  to  yourselves  m 
psalms,  and  hyinnsy  and  spiritual  sonys,  singing  arid 
niaking  melody  in  your  heart  to  the  Lord"  (ver.  19), 
This  spiritual  joy,  which  the  Holy  Spirit  imparts,  shall 
burst  forth  in  holy  words,  heavenly  prayers  and  melo- 
dious singing  in  their  hearts  to  the  Lord,  as  Pliny  the 
heathen  tells  us  the  Christians  were  accustomed  to  do 
in  the  primitive  times  {Epist.  x.  97)  :  "  Carmen  Christo 
quasi  Deo  dicunt "  ("  They  sing  hymns  to  Christ  as  a 
God").  This  fullness  of  the  Spirit  leads  to ''speaking 
to  yourselves  in  psalms,  and  hymns,  and  spiritual  songs, 
singing  and  making  melody  in  your  heart  to  the  Lord^ 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  word  Lord  here  refers 
to  Christ,  and  the  same  idea  is  more  fully  asserted  m 
tlie  twentieth  verse:  ''Giving  thanks  always  for  aU 
things  unto  God  and  the  Father,  in  the  name  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.''''  Jesus  Christ  is  the  prominent 
object  of  love,  reverence  and  adoration  in  the  Chris- 
tian worship,  and  to  the  wonders  of  his  redemption 
every  earnest,  thoughtful  heart  beats  responsive. 

These  psalms  and  hymns  and  spiritual  odes  are  not 
to  be  artistically  distinguished,  nor  do  they  refer  to  the 
collections  of  primitive  psalmody  or  to  ecclesiastical 
hymn-books.  They  were  not  songs  of  human  com- 
position, but  the  outburstings  of  praise  direct  from  the 
heart  as  the  Spirit  gave  utterance  to  the  worshipers. 
This  may  have  been  in  their  worship  (1  Cor.  xiv.  15, 
16)  ;  or  it  may  have  been  in  their  quiet  meetings  for 
mutual  encouragement  and  edification ;  or  it  may  have 
been  at  midnight,  when  the  dungeon  enclosed  them 
and  their  feet  were  fast  in  the  stocks  (Acts  xvi.  25).  The 
early  Church,  having  to  contend  with  such  fearful  en- 
emies, was  endowed  by  her  Head  and  Redeemer  with 


380  GRAHAM    OK    EPHESIANS. 

such  a  glorious  fullness  of  the  Spirit  that  the  indwelling 
life  was  ever  breaking  forth  in  streams  of  adoration 
and  praise.  Every  need  was  provided  for  and  every 
difficulty  overcome  by  this  mighty  endowment,  which 
included  all  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit  (1  Cor.  xii.)  for  the 
ministry  of  the  apostolic  Church,  the  gift  of  languages 
for  unbelievers,  the  ninefold  fruit  of  the  Spirit  (Gal. 
V.  22)  for  the  Church  universal ;  and  for  the  psalmody 
the  23rovision  was  simple  and  sufficient,  even  the  out- 
bursting  joy  of  the  indwelling  Spirit  in  psalms  and 
hymns  and  spiritual  songs.  It  is  possible  some  of  the 
psalms  of  David  may  have  been  used.  Hymns  means 
simply  songs  of  praise.  Ode  seems  to  be  more  general 
and  worldly,  for  the  apostle  qualifies  it  by  the  word 
spiritual.  The  same  order  is  observed  in  Col.  iii.  16. 
"  Ode"  is  found  in  the  following  passages  :  Eph.  v.  19  ; 
Kev.  V.  9 ;  xiv.  3 ;  xv.  3.  The  practice  referred  to  in 
1  Cor.  xiv.  26  seems  to  show  that  the  word  psalms  has 
some  reference  to  the  Jewish  psalmody ;  and  this  is 
still  more  probable  from  the  fact  that  the  mode  and 
system  of  worship  passed  from  the  synagogue  service 
into  the  early  Christian  Church. 

^^  Giving  thanks  always  for  all  things  unto  God  a7id 
the  Father,  in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Chi'ist,  sub- 
mitting yourselves  one  to  another  in  the  fear  of  God  *' 
(ver.  20,  21). 

The  twentieth  and  twenty-first  verses  are  a  contin- 
uance of  the  same  subject,  but  they  show  the  relations 
of  the  Church  to  the  Father  and  the  Son.  We  learn 
from  them  the  following  truths  :  (1)  That  thankfulness 
is  the  natural  expression  of  the  believing  heart,  and  it 
should  be  exercised  perpetually.  (2)  The  object  of  all 
our  thankfulness  is  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord 


CHAPTER   V.    VERSES  3-21.  381 

Jesus  Christ.  This  phrase,  "  God  and  Father,"  in 
Greek  and  in  English,  can  refer  to  only  one  person, 
and  is  another  confirmation  of  the  rule  which  we  sought 
to  establish  when  considering  verse  5  of  this  chapter. 
(3)  Our  prayers,  praises  and  thanksgivings  should  all 
l)e  in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  We  approach 
God  in  the  name  of  Christ,  which  is  the  same  as  through 
the  merits  and  mediation  of  Christ  (Col.  iii,  17).  In 
Christ,  in  the  name  of  Christ,  through  Christ,  for  the 
sake  of  Christ, — all  show  the  principle  of  mediation,  and 
may  be  used  indifterently  in  our  praises  and  our  prayers. 
Fifteenth.  In  verse  21  the  apostle  ends  these  gener- 
al exhortations  with  the  principle  of  deference  and 
subynhsion  one  to  another  in  the  fear  of  God.  No 
place  for  pride ;  no  personal  superiority  of  gifts  must 
be  permitted  to  impede  the  free  circulation  of  brotherly 
love  among  the  saints.  They  have  much  to  learn  in 
the  school  of  Christ,  and  one  of  the  deepest  lessons  of 
his  love  is  to  bear  one  another's  burdens  and  be  sub- 
missive one  to  another  in  the  fear  of  God.  We  are 
very  partial  in  our  judgments,  and  often  partial  in  our 
affections ;  and  Jesus  will  teach  us  that  his  saints  are 
one — that  we  should  love  them  all  and  be  submissive 
and  brotherly  in  all  our  relations  with  them.  A  pas- 
tor, for  example,  is  not  to  take  up  with  the  literary 
families  of  his  neighborhood,  where  he  may  join  in 
the  gambols  of  intellect ;  nor  with  the  rich  and  luxu- 
rious, where  he  may  expatiate  in  the  elegance  of  sj^len- 
did  mansions  and  stately  hospitality  ;  nor  with  the  ven- 
erable and  far-advanced  Christians  whose  hearts  and 
hopes  are  in  heaven.  No ;  not  with  any  one  class,  but 
with  all  classes,  should  he  come  in  contact,  and  show 
the  same  submissive,  loving,  deferential  spirit  to  them 


382  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANH. 

all.  We  fail  in  few  things  more  lamentably  than  in 
esteeming  one  another  very  highly  in  love  for  the 
Lord's  sake ;  nor  is  there  any  nobler  or  more  difficult 
exercise  of  that  charity  which  hopeth  all  things,  be- 
lieveth  all  things  and  beareth  all  things  than  to  submit 
ourselves  one  to  another  in  the  fear  of  God. 

IV.  Household  Duties  (ch.  v.  22-vi.  9). 
Next  to  the  Church,  the  family  occupies  place  in  the 
Bible.  The  family  is  the  society  of  nature,  out  of 
which  flow  all  other  corporations,  as  townships,  prov- 
inces, republics,  monarchies,  empires,  etc. — all  the  nat- 
ural arrangements  and  relations  of  the  body  politic 
throughout  the  world.  The  Church  is  the  society  of 
grace,  founded,  sustained  and  perfected  in  grace  (which 
finally,  indeed,  brightens  into  glory),  and  out  of  it  as  a 
teeming  fountain  of  blessedness  flow  all  the  charitable 
and  benevolent  institutions  (heathenism  had,  and  has, 
none  of  them)  with  which  every  Christian  land  is  filled. 
The  Church  is  the  fountain  opened  in  the  rock  from 
whence  the  healing  waters  flow  over  the  world ;  this  is 
the  source  of  all  our  missionary  undertakings  which  in 
the  apostolic  ages  and  in  these  last  times  have  attracted 
the  attention  and  excited  the  admiration  of  mankind. 
These  are  the  two  centres  whence  mighty  influences  go 
forth  in  all  directions  and  shed  their  dewy  blessings 
over  the  populations  of  the  world,  the  two  poles — na- 
ture and  grace,  the  family  and  the  Church,  Creator 
and  Redeemer — around  which  the  mighty  systems  of 
providence  and  grace  revolve,  the  former  being  the 
manifestation  of  creating  power ;  the  second,  of  re- 
deeming love.  The  Head  of  the  family  is  God  the 
Father ;  the  Head  of  the  Church  is  God  the  Son,  the 


CHAPTER  V.     VERSES  22-33.  383 

God-Man ;  and  the  Spirit  that  pervades  and  glorifies 
both  is  the  Holy  Ghost.  Thus  we  have  before  us  the 
two  theatres  of  divine  operation  harmoniously  united 
in  the  Christian  household.  Let  us,  therefore,  enter 
with  the  apostle  the  sanctuary  of  the  family — not  tur- 
bulent and  repulsive  as  in  nature  it  often  is,  but  peace- 
ful and  benignant  as  grace  makes  it — and  expatiate  over 
tlie  moralities,  sanctities  and  beauties  which  adorn  it. 

Fh'st.  Wives.  "  Wives,  submit  yourselves  unto  your  own 
husbands,  as  unto  the  Lord'^  (ver.  22).  For  the  duty  of 
wives  generally,  consult  the  following  scriptures :  Prov. 
xii.  4 ;  xix.  14 ;  xxxi.  10-31  ;  Rom.  vii.  2,  3  ;  1  Cor. 
vii.  3 ;  Eph.  V.  22 ;  Col.  iii.  18 ;  1  Tim.  ii.  9-12 ;  Tit. 
ii.  4,  5 ;  Heb.  xiii.  4 ;  1  Pet.  iii.  1-6.  Here,  however, 
the  apostle  mentions  only  the  one  great  necessary  duty 
of  submission.  The  wife  is  not  the  head  of  the  house- 
hold, and  rule  on  her  part  would  be  a  reversing  of 
the  order  and  ordinance  of  both  Creator  and  Redeemer, 
and  would  be  followed  by  fearful  evils,  as  quaint  old 
Francis  Quarles  sings  not  unskillfully : 

"  111  thrives  the  hapless  family  that  shows 
A  cock  that's  silent  and  a  hen  that  crows ; 
I  know  not  which  live  most  unnatural  lives — 
Obeying  husbands  or  commanding  wives." 

If,  as  Pope  asserts,  the  two  dominant  passions  of  the 
female  sex  be  the  love  of  pleasure  and  the  love  of 
power,  wives  should,  however  unwilling  to  bow  to  the 
authority  of  Scripture,  at  least  yield  to  the  recommen- 
dation of  the  poet, 

"  And  never  answer  till  their  husbands  cool, 
And  if  tliey  rule  them  do  not  seem  to  rule." 

The  word  of  God,  however,  does  not  deal  in  appear- 


384  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

aiices,  but  in  realities ;  and  if  any  wife  refuses  the  sub- 
mission proper  to  her  head  and  guardian,  she  disobeys 
the  command  of  God,  and  to  him  she  must  answer  for 
it.  Newton  says  in  his  pleasant  way  that  he  would 
allow  the  reins  occasionally  to  lie  in  the  wife's  hand 
when  the  road  is  smooth  and  pleasant — with  the  pro- 
viso, however,  that  he  may  have  the  liberty  of  resum- 
ing them  in  rough  roads  and  stormy  weather.  Such  a 
mutual  arrangement  may  be  agreeable  to  both  parties, 
and  is,  perhaps,  permissible,  though  the  analogy  of  the 
text,  and  especially  of  the  words  "  as  unto  the  Lord,"  is 
against  it.  This  phrase,  as  unto  the  Lord,  reveals  the 
glory  and  the  dignity  of  the  Christian  dispensation, 
in  which  the  presence  of  the  Lord  is  an  all-pervading 
element,  and  in  wliich  all  the  littleness  of  our  personal 
relationships  is  submerged  in  the  recognition  of  fel- 
lowship with  him.  It  is  his  service  throughout.  We 
recognize  him  in  the  magistrate  who  reigns ;  in  the 
husband  who  rules  his  household  w^ell ;  in  the  loving, 
obedient  wife — a  type  of  the  redeemed  Chur(;h ;  and 
in  the  honest  diligence  of  feithful  servants.  Every 
one  acts  in  his  sphere  as  unto  the  Lord,  and  the  pres- 
ence of  our  common  Lord  and  Master  sustains  and 
blesses  aU.  The  reason  of  this  submission  is  given 
in  verses  23  and  24. 

Second.  The  example  of  Christ.  "For  the  husband  is 
the  head  of  the  wife,  even  as  Christ  is  the  head  of  the 
Church,  and  he  is  the  Saviour  of  the  body''  (ver.  23). 
Jesus  Christ,  having  assumed  our  nature  for  the  pur- 
pose of  redemption  and  for  the  glory  of  God,  ha^^  ap- 
j)ropriate.d,  consecrated  and  dignified  all  human  rela- 
tions. The  husband,  the  wife,  the  servant  condition, 
the  offices  of  royalty  and  submission — all  conceivable 


CHAPTER  V.    VERSES  22-33.  385 

relations   among  men — he   has   glorified  by  shedding 
over  them  the  sacredness  of  a  personal  appropriation. 
He  is  himself  the  Frince  and  the  Subject,  the  Sceptre- 
Bearer  and  the  Burden-Bearer,  the  Lion  of  the  tribe  of 
Judah  and  the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sin 
of  the  world.     The  husband  manifests  Christ's  head- 
ship ;  the  wife,  lowly  and  loving  and  obedient,  like  the 
Church,    shows   forth   the   reception    and   fullness   of 
Christ's  love  ;  and  the  servant  in  unrepining  submis- 
sion to  the  will  of  his  master  is  but  treading  the  path 
consecrated  by  Christ,  who,  being  in  the  form  of  God 
and  thinking  it  no  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God,  yet 
took  upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant  and  became  obe- 
dient unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross  (Phil.  ii. 
<5-8).     There  seems  to  be  no  restriction  but  the  will  of 
God.     While  the  rule  of  the  husband  is  in  the  Lord, 
the  wife  is  bound  to  obey  ;  but  the  commands  of  a  hard, 
cruel,  tyrannical  master  who  has  no  respect  to  the  will 
of  God  she  has  no  right  to  obey,  and  that  simply  for 
the  reason  that  such  obedience  could  never  be  given  to 
the  husband  as  unto  God.     The  headship  of  Christ  is 
holy,  loving  and  just,  and  such  should  be  the  rule  of 
the  husband.    Christ  provides  for  the  Church,  leads  her 
in  the  wilderness  by  his  presence,  defends  her  from  her 
enemies,  and  finally  makes  her  the  sharer  of  his  glory  ; 
and  such  should  be  the  conduct  of  husbands  to  their 
wives  if  they  expect  from  them  the  obedience  which  the 
Church  renders  to  C'hrist. 

Third.  The  husbcmd's  love.  For  the  duty  of  hus- 
bands generally,  consult  the  following  passages :  Gen. 
ii.  24;  1  Sam.  i.  <s ;  Matt.  ii.  13-15;  xix.  5,  6;  1 
Cor.  vii.  3-11 ;  Eph.  v.  28;  Col.  iii.  19;  1  Tim.  v.  8; 
Heb.   xiii.  4;  1   Pet.  3-7.     Here,  however,  the  great 

49 


386  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

duty  commanded  is  love,  and  the  liiglie.st  of  all  ex- 
amples is  brought  forth  to  enforce  it :  "  Love  your 
wives,  even  as  Christ  loved  the  Church,  and  gave 
himself  for  it,"  If,  on  the  one  hand,  Paul  requires  obe- 
dience "  in  everything,"  on  the  other  he  requires  a  love 
which  can  be  extinguished  only  in  death.  These  are 
the  two  mother-virtues — love  and  obedience — from 
which  all  others  flow.  If  the  husband  act  out  the 
love  of  Christ  in  his  whole  family  life  and  the  wife 
exhibit  the  obedience  which  the  Church  owes  to  Christ, 
then  the  family  will  be  a  happy  family,  and  on  this  side 
of  heaven  you  can  find  no  other  spot  where  so  many 
virtues  meet.  The  rule  of  love  is  not  felt  to  be  tyran- 
nical, and  obedience  in  the  Lord  is  not  felt  to  be  degra- 
dation ;  and  then  there  is  so  much  that  is  common  to 
both  that  the  peculiarities  of  their  distinctive  positions 
make  up  but  an  inconsiderable  portion  of  their  house- 
hold relations.  They  have  one  faith,  one  hope  and  one 
heavenly  calling  ;  their  enemies  are  the  same  ;  they 
must  gird  themselves  together  for  the  same  conflict  m 
the  struggle  of  life ;  and  the  clouds  and  the  tempests 
of  the  evil  day  threaten  both  equally.  Take  such  a 
faithful  Christian  family  wherever  you  find  it,  from  the 
palace  to  the  cottage,  and  you  will  find  in  it  the  same 
noble  principles,  the  same  moral  beauty  and  grandeur. 
It  is  a  nursery  lor  heaven  and  a  type  of  the  house  not 
made  with  hands. 

Fourth.  Christ's  love  to  the  Church.  This  subject  is 
introduced  only  in  a  cisual  way  and  as  an  example  for 
husbands,  but,  being  mentioned,  the  apostle,  whose  prin- 
ciple was  to  know  nothing  among  men  save  Jesus  Christ 
and  him  crucified,  immediately  launches  forth  upon  the 
ocean  of  redeeming  love  : 


CHAPTER  V.    VERSES  22-33.  387 

*^ Husbands,  love  your  wives,  even  as  Christ  also  loved 
tlie  Church,  and  gave  himself  for  it;  that  he  might 
sanctify  and  cleanse  it  with  the  washing  of  ivater  by  the 
word,  that  he  might  present  it  to  himself  a  glorious 
Church,  not  having  spot  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing  ; 
but  that  it  should  be  holy  and  without  blemish''''  (ver. 
25-27). 

Let  us  analyze  for  a  moment  this  glorious  description, 
that  we  may  comprehend  at  our  leisure,  as  far  as  may 
be,  the  nature  of  the  eternal  mercy. 

(1)  He  loved  the  Church.  His  heart  was  moved  with 
affection  in  the  heavens,  and  he  left  the  throne  of  his 
glory,  the  homage  of  the  angels  and  the  bosom  of  the 
Father  that  he  might  restore  the  wanderer  to  the  heav- 
enly fold.  She  is  the  chosen  bride  which  he  contem- 
plated from  eternity  in  the  purpose  of  the  Father, 
when,  even  before  the  creation  of  the  world,  his  de- 
lights were  with  the  sons  of  men.  It  is  sweet  to  be  the 
object  of  love ;  to  know  and  feel  that  Jesus  loved  you 
from  eternity,  loves  you  now  and  will  love  you  for  ever; 
to  be  sure  in  the  midst  of  forgetfulness  and  estrange- 
ment that  One  loves  thee  still  and  can  never  forget 
thee — that  his  eye  and  his  heart  are  as  tender  and  as 
merciful  as  on  the  day  when  he  exj)ired  upon  the  ac- 
cursed tree.  This  tranquillizes  our  fears  and  stills  all 
the  stormy  emotions  of  our  troubled  minds.  This  is 
not  the  love  he  bears  to  the  world,  for  he  loves  the 
world  too ;  it  is  not  mere  compassion  over  misery,  nor 
the  tender  feeling  which  seeks  to  relieve  distress.  No ; 
the  love  he  bears  the  Church  is  that,  and  far  more  than 
that.  It  is  a  love  which  delights  in  its  object,  which 
turns  misery  into  joy  and  deformity  into  beauty,  that 
it  may  have   an  object  of   complacency  on  which  to 


388  GRAHAM   ON  EPHESIANS. 

fasten  its  regards.  His  love  to  the  Church  is  sympathy 
and  delight.  He  has  made  her  beautiful  by  his  own 
comeliness,  so  that  the  all-seeing  Eye  can  discover  no 
imperfection.  She  is  his  bride,  the  second  Eve  for  the 
second  Adam,  taken  from  his  bleeding  side  and  to  be 
presented  to  him  on  the  day  of  the  espousals  (Rev.  xix. 
7)  as  the  worthy  queen  of  the  new  world.  She  is  bone 
of  his  bone  and  flesh  of  his  flesh,  and  his  own  royal 
resurrection  I'ighteousness  is  the  garment  which  she 
wears.  Oh,  who  can  imagine  the  affection  which  the 
Son  of  God  bears  to  his  beloved  Church,  the  object  of 
his  eternal  solicitude  and  the  vessel  of  mercy  into  which 
he  has  poured  all  the  fullness  of  his  grace  ?  She  fol- 
lowed him  through  the  Valley  of  Humiliation,  and  she 
shall  share  with  him  the  visions  of  his  beatific  glory. 
With  hi  in,  is  the  secret  and  charm  of  her  love — 2vifh 
him  throuofh  the  barren  wilderness  or  urith  him  in  the 
heavenly  Canaan.  To  drink  the  bitter  gall  on  Gol- 
gotha or  to  enter  into  the  cloud  of  his  glory  on  Tabor 
is  all  the  same  to  her,  for  in  both  and  in  all  cases  she 
has  the  strong  and  victorious  assurance  that  he  is  with 
her.  No  higher  glory  can  she  ever  desire  on  earth  or 
in  heaven  than  to  be  with  him  and  like  him,  for  he  is 
the  one  living  centre  in  which  all  glories  meet. 

(2)  He  gave  himself  for  it.  This  is  atonement, 
redemption,  sacrifice,  ransom,  and  it  is  the  constant 
doctrine  of  the  New  Testament.  (See  Rom.  v.  6,  7,  8  ; 
xiv.  15;  2  Cor.  v.  14,  15;  1  Thess.  v.  10;  John  xviii.  14; 
Heb.  ii.  9 ;  Luke  xxii.  19 ;  Tit.  ii.  14  ;  1  Tim.  ii.  6 ; 
1  Cor.  V.  7;  xi.  24;  Gal.  ii.  20;  iii.  13;  iv.  4 ;  1  Pet. 
ii.  21.)  These  passages  with  one  voice  declare  that 
the  death  of  Jesus  Christ  was  to  expiate  the  sins  of 
men  and  to  brinsj  in  reconciliation  with  God.     Hold 


CHAPTER  V.     VP:R8ES  22-83.  389 

fast,  therefore,  the  docti-ine  of  atonement,  by  which 
every  believer  lias  free  access  to  the  holiest  of  all.  His 
death  was  our  peace-offering  with  God.  Had  he  not 
vlied,  the  law  would  have  remained  without  vindication 
and  the  portals  of  glory  would  have  remained  closed. 
No  mighty  and  compelling  example  of  divine  clemency 
would  have  been  given  to  the  universe,  and  the  poor 
soul,  forsaken  and  fatherless,  would  have  no  assurance 
of  a  welcome  in  the  skies.  The  cross  is  the  expla- 
nation of  the  dark  ways  of  providence ;  we  read  at  the 
same  time  the  enormity  of  sin  and  the  love  that  for- 
gives it.  All  attempts  to  explain  away  the  death  of 
Christ  into  common  martyrdom  are  profane  and  un- 
])hilosophical.  His  sufferings  are  twofold— exe7nplary 
and  atoning.  He  is  the  Head  of  believers,  to  lead  them 
on,  and  he  is  the  I.amb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the 
sins  of  tlie  world.  Paul  speaks  often  of  our  suffering 
with  Christ  and  bearing  the  cross  of  Christ;  yet  he 
exclaims  in  indignation,  "Was  Paul  crucified  for  you?" 
(1  Cor.  i.  13).  He  knew  the  difference  between  the  ex- 
ample of  Christ  and  his  expiation,  and  we  should  be 
careful  not  to  confound  them. 

(3)  'The purpose  of  his  love.  ''That  he  might  sanctifg 
and  cleanse  it  with  the  washing  of  water  by  the  word, 
thai  he  might  present  it  to  himself  a  glorious  Church, 
not  having  .spot  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing;  but  that 
it  should  be  holy  aiid  without  blemish  "  (ver.  26,  27). 

This  purpose  was  twofold,  according  to  our  passage — 
viz.,  sanctification  and  glorification.  His  purpose  in 
dying  was  "  that  he  might  sanctify  and  cleanse  it  with 
the  washing  of  water  by  the  word."  Jerome  and  others 
translate,  "  That  he  might  sanctify  it  by  the  word,  and 
cleanse  it  by  the  washing  of  water ;"  and  the  sense  is 


390  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

good,  and  the  construction  neither  forced  nor  unnatural. 
This  washing  refers,  without  doubt,  to  baptism,  though 
the  phrase  in  our  Greek  text  is  nowhere  else  found  in 
the  Scriptures  ;  but  we  have  the  washing  or  bath  of 
regeneration  (Tit.  iii.  5)  ;  water  is  connected  with 
regeneration  in  John  iii.  5,  and  the  washing  of  the 
YhkIj  with  pure  water  refers  to  the  same  thing  (Heb. 
X.  22).  So,  also  (Acts  xxii.),  baptism  is  connected 
with  the  washing  away  of  sins  and  calling  uj)on  the 
name  of  the  Lord.  All  these  agree  with  our  passage 
in  making  the  bath  of  baptism  the  means  of  the 
Church's  purification.  There  seems,  however,  to  be 
a  distinction  taken  between  sanctifying  the  Church 
and  purifying  her,  for  the  passage  seems  to  imply  this 
— that  he  might  sanctify  her  after  having  purified  her 
l)y  the  bath  of  water  (baptism),  according  to  the  word 
of  God.  Baptism  is  the  threshold  of  purification,  over 
which  she  must  first  pass,  and  then  the  work  of  sancti- 
fication  proceeds  until  she  is  assimilated  unto  the  Lord. 
In  the  New  Testament  little  more  seems  to  be  required 
for  baptism  than  a  simple  confession  that  Jesus  is  the 
Son  of  God.  This  acknowledgment  being  made,  the 
candidate  enters  into  the  Church  through  the  bath  of 
regeneration,  and  now  the  great  work  of  sanctification 
proceeds  under  the  hand  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Baptism, 
therefore,  is  the  ordinance  for  regenerating  the  children 
of  God,  as  the  Lord's  Supper  is  the  ordinance  for 
nourishing  and  building  them  up.  It  is  not  only 
a  solemn  admission  of  the  baptized  into  the  visible 
Church,  but  also  a  sign  and  seal  of  the  covenant  of 
grace,  of  his  ingrafting  into  Christ,  of  regeneration,  of 
remission  of  sins,  of  his  going  up  unto  God,  through 
Jesus  Christ,  to  walk  in  newness  of  life. 


CHAPTER   V.     VERSES  22-33.  391 

But  what  does  the  phrase  here,  by  the  word,  or  "  ac- 
cording to  the  word,"  mean  ?  The  okl  expositors  of 
the  Church  understood  it  of  the  form  of  baptism. 
This,  however,  is  weak  and  unsatisfactory,  notwith- 
standing De  Wette's  defence  of  it.  The  term  rema 
("word")  is  "the  gospel" — viz.,  the  word  of  God  or 
tlie  word  of  life;  so  the  word  of  faith  (Rom.  x.  8). 
(Hee  also  Rom.  x.  17  ;  E])h.  vi.  17  ;  1  Pet.  i.  25.)  De 
Wette's  surmise  that  tJie  word  {rema)  cannot  signify 
the  gospel  is  groundless ;  it  differs,  indeed,  from  logos, 
but  such  is  not  the  difference.  Both  are  applied  to 
the  word  of  God — that  is,  the  gospel — but  logos  alone 
is  applied  to  the  person  of  the  Son  of  God.  The 
meaning,  then,  is  this :  "  That  he  might  sanctify  her 
by  the  word  of  the  gospel,  after  having  purified  her  by 
the  bath- water." 

Then  the  second  object  that  he  had  in  view  was  that 
he  might  present  her  to  himself  a  glorious  Church — 
not  having  spot  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing,  but  that 
she  should  be  without  blemish.  This  offers  no  difficulty, 
and  the  critics  have  only  made  work  for  themselves. 
Surely,  when  the  saints  shall  hear  his  voice  and  rise 
from  their  graves  to  meet  him  in  the  air,  they  shall  be 
presented  to  him.  He  loved  her  and  washed  her  from 
her  sins  in  his  blood,  and  he  shall  first  draw  her  up  to 
the  presence  of  his  glory  in  the  clouds  (1  Thess.  iv.  17), 
after  which  he  shall  present  her  to  the  Father,  and 
then  come,  invested  with  the  authority  and  majesty  of 
God,  to  reign  for  ever  over  the  renewed  earth  with  his 
bride.  She  is  now  in  misery  and  conflict,  struggling 
ao;ainst  the  waves  of  sorrow  which  threaten  everv 
moment  to  submerge  her ;  she  shall  then  be  gloriou.< 
like  her  Master  and  Head  in  every  faculty  of  the  mind 


392  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

and  in  every  fibre  of  tlie  body ;  with  a  beauty  and  a 
loveliness  corresponding  to  the  dignity  in  store  for  her ; 
with  a  splendor  and  a  majesty  in  keeping  with  the 
ransom  that  was  paid  for  her ;  with  a  fullness  of  love 
and  a  nearness  to  God  and  a  perpetually-increasing 
communion  in  the  Spirit  worthy  of  the  eternal  purpose 
of  God  in  the  creation  and  redemption  of  the  world. 
No  spot  to  remind  you  of  the  ancient  storms — no 
wrinkle,  through  all  the  years  of  eternity,  to  testify 
of  superannuation  or  decay !  Holy  and  without 
blemish  (these  are  sacrificial  terms,  but  used  here 
morally),  she  shall  enjoy  the  vigor  of  eternal  youth 
in  that  happy  land  where  winter  does  not  wither  the 
fiowers  of  paradise,  and  sin  and  Satan  and  death 
can  sully  and  divide  the  children  of  God  no  more. 

Oh  how  glorious  this  Church  !  How  noble  the  hope 
of  being  there,  of  standing  with  accejDtance  before  the 
presence  of  the  Lord  invested  with  the  white  robes  of 
spotless  purity  !  O  my  God,  I  long  after  thine  image, 
that  in  all  things  I  may  act  worthily  of  thy  love  to  me. 
Oh  for  that  burning  love  which  can  rest  satisfied  with 
nothing  less  than  thee ! 

"  Yes,  we  shall  love.     But  who  can  know — 
What  tongue  or  pen  can  fully  show — 
The  depths  beneath  and  height  of  love? 
Our  souls  from  endless  death  to  save, 
Himself,  his  blood,  his  life,  he  gave." 

Fifth.  The  natural  oneness.  "  So  ought  men  to  love 
their  wives,  as  their  own  bodies.  He  that  loveth  his  wife 
loveth  himself^'  (ver.  28).  The  apostle  now  returns  to 
his  theme — that  is,  t  e  duty  of  husbands — and  he  does 
so  after  stating  the  example  of  Christ,  who  to  seek  and 
to  save  his  bride  came  down  from  the  upper  sanctuary, 


CHAPTER    V.     VERSES  22-33.  393 

became  one  with  her  by  assuming  her  nature  (Heb.  ii. 
14) ;  so  that  the  redeemed  Church  and  the  Redeemer 
fulfilled  and  perfected  the  paradisiacal  marriage  union  : 
"  This  is  now  bone  of  my  bones  and  flesh  of  my  flesh  " 
(Gen.  ii.  23;  1  Cor.  xi.  8).  Adam,  without  being 
deceived,  followed  (1  Tim.  ii.  14)  his  wife  into  sorrows 
and  dangers  from  which  he  was  unable  to  deliver  her. 
He  could  not  break  the  yoke,  but  he  could  help  to  bear 
it,  and  in  so  doing  he  was  a  type  of  the  Redeemer  and 
Husband,  who,  seeing  all  our  dangers  and  knowing 
well  the  depth  of  our  fallen  condition,  voluntarily 
came  into  them,  himself  undefiled  amidst  all  possible 
defilement ;  not  only  the  Burden-Bearer  of  our  woes, 
but  the  triumphant  Redeemer  of  our  forfeited  glories. 

His  oneness  with  us  is  complete.  He  is  our  Brother- 
Man,  our  Kinsman-Redeemer,  and  his  love  to  us  was 
perfect.  This  is  the  force  of  the  "  so  ought  men  to 
love  their  wives  as  their  own  bodies.  He  that  loveth 
his  wife  loveth  himself"  Jesus,  clothing  himself  with 
our  nature,  bearing  our  burdens  of  sorrow  and  finally 
dying  for  his  bride  on  the  cross,  is  the  right  and 
proper  example  for  husbands.  The  union  is  full  and 
complete :  husband  and  wife  are  sharers  of  one  com- 
mon nature ;  they  are,  or  ought  to  be,  animated  by  the 
same  temj^oral  and  eternal  hopes ;  they  have  entered  into 
the  same  lifeboat  to  buffet  together  the  billows  of  the 
troublous  sea ;  they  have  put  £lieir  hands  to  the  plough, 
and  should  never  look  back  to  what  they  were  before 
their  marriage.  Their  union  is  the  most  j^erfect  known 
upon  earth,  for  they  are  no  longer  twain,  but  one  flesh  ; 
and  the  more  this  is  realized,  the  happier  the  married 
life  must  be.  Let  differences  arise  between  them,  so  that 
the  sentiment  or  feeling  of  oneness  is  broken,  and  the 

50 


394  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

glory  of  the  marriage  state  is  at  once  dimmed ;  it  is  no 
more  that  unity  in  variety  which  is  the  perfection  of  all 
God's  works  in  so  far  as  they  illustrate  his  own  nature. 
The  faithful  husband  seeks  not  his  own,  but  his  wife's ; 
his  affections,  which  God  has  made  to  flow  outward  and 
upward,  find  their  natural  home  in  her ;  and  he  seeks 
and  finds  in  her  the  solace  for  his  earthly  woes.  She 
knows  her  weakness,  and  looks  to  him  for  provision 
and  defence ;  while  his  affection  finds  in  her  not  only 
the  clinging  dependant,  but  also  the  strong  supporter 
by  whom  all  his  cares  are  divided  and  all  his  happi- 
ness far  more  than  doubled.  He  loves  her  as  he  loves 
himself,  and  this  love  is  returned  manifold  into  his 
bosom ;  so  that  the  typical  nature  of  the  marriage 
union  is  realized.  On  the  one  hand,  there  is  power, 
authority,  protection  and  love ;  on  the  other,  meekness, 
gentleness,  quiet  obedience,  winning  affection ;  and 
these  two,  meeting  and  mingling  in  the  family  circle, 
mutually  limit,  counteract  or  sustain  each  other,  as  the 
case  may  be ;  so  that  impetuosity  is  tempered  by  pru- 
dence ;  weakness  is  sustained  by  the  feeling  of  anoth- 
er's strength ;  angularities  are  rubbed  off  by  contact ; 
patience  has  her  perfect  work ;  anger  and  wrath  are 
moderated  by  gentle  forbearance  and  kind  words;  while 
the  spirit  of  love — the  great  anti-friction  in  human 
afi\iirs — interpenetrating  the  whole  domestic  economy, 
gilds  the  family  life  with  the  sacredness  and  the  radi- 
ance of  heaven.  It  is  indeed  the  best  and  noblest  type 
of  Christ  and  the  Church. 

Sixth.  The  principle  of  self-love.  "  iVo  man  ever  yet 
hated  his  otvn  flesh"  (ver.  29).  The  apostle  might 
have  said  "  body,"  and  the  meaning  would  have  been 
the  same.     Flesh  is  not  here  used  in  the   bad  sense 


I 


CHAPTER    V.     VERSES  22-33.  395 

which  it  often  has  in  the  New  Testament  (Rom.  viii. 
4,  5,  6-13  ;  Gal.  v.  16,  24  ;  vi.  8).  Here  sarx  ("  flesh") 
is  used  for  phusis  ("  nature  " — viz.,  the  nature  of  man, 
or  human  nature).  The  principle  is  not  condemned 
in  the  New  Testament.  Selfishness  is  strongly  repro- 
bated, but  self-love  is  sometimes  encouraged  and  often 
taken  for  granted  as  right  and  proper.  "  Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbor  as  thyse/f^  is  the  solemn  command 
of  God ;  so  that  self-love  is  the  measure  of  all  other 
love.  The  power  of  this  principle  may  be  seen  espe- 
cially in  times  of  great  calamity  and  common  danger, 
such  as  earthquakes  and  shipwrecks,  when  each  indi- 
vidual, generally  speaking,  seeks  to  take  care  only  of 
himself.  The  examples  of  self-sacrificing  love  are  not 
more  than  enough  to  confirm  the  rule  that  self-love 
regulates,  and  should  regulate,  the  conduct  of  mankind. 
This  principle  the  apostle  uses  as  an  argument  wdiy 
husbands  should  love  their  wives,  inasmuch  as  the 
nuitual  love  is  self-love,  seeing  they  twain  are  one 
flesh;  for  no  man  ever  yet  hated  his  own  flesh,  but 
nourisheth  it  and  cherisheth  it,  even  as  the  Lord  the 
Church. 

Seventh.  Members  of  his  body.  "For  ive  are  members 
of  his  body,  of  his  fesh,  and  of  his  bones  "  (ver.  30) . 
The  Holy  Scripture  speaks  much  about  our  incorpora- 
tion into  the  body  of  Christ  (Rom.  xii.  5 ;  1  Cor.  vi. 
15;  xii.  27).  There  is  the  old  Adam,  to  whom  we 
stand  related  by  nature  and  from  whom  have  descended 
the  burdens  of  iniquity  which  oppress  us,  from  which 
it  is  the  effort  of  the  second  Adam  to  deliver  us  ;  and 
this  can  be  accomplished  only  by  union  with  Christ. 
No  strength  but  his  can  enable  us  to  stem  the  ocean- 
swell  that  rises  up  against  us  in  the  struggle  for  holi- 


396  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

ness  and  life ;  the  branch  shed  off  from  the  vine  be- 
comes a  sport  of  the  winds ;  the  stone  that  is  loosed 
from  the  temple  has  lost  all  its  strength  and  import- 
ance ;  a  member  cut  off  from  the  body  is  deprived  of 
the  living  circulation  and  dies  or  withers  away.  It  is 
even  so  with  believers,  says  the  apostle.  United  with 
our  Lord,  we  are  strong  and  holy  and  victorious ;  we 
can  go  anywhere,  do  anything  and  conquer  anything. 
We  are  identified  with  him  by  faith  and  love,  and  are 
permitted  and  encouraged  to  apj)ropriate  all  the  prom- 
ises of  his  grace.  This  is  our  strength  and  our  glory  ; 
nor  is  there  any  stimulus  to  faith  and  good  works  so 
effectual  as  the  realized  consciousness  of  union  with 
Christ.  This  oneness  is  begun  by  faith,  continued  in 
love  and  perfected  in  the  glories  of  the  skies. 

Members  of  his  body !  This  is  a  great  thought  and 
worthy  of  its  divine  Author;  for  it  announces  the 
reality  of  the  Church's  unity  and  annihilates  the 
natural  sectarianism  of  our  carnal  minds.  The  body 
of  Christ  is  not  half  a  dozen  of  the  least  informed 
and  most  immoral  nations  of  Europe,  headed  by  a 
tyrannical  priest  on  the  Tiber  whose  own  states  are 
the  most  degraded  and  the  worst  governed  in  the  world. 
No !  The  body  of  Christ  is  not  seated  on  the  seven 
hills,  nor  clothed  with  purple  and  scarlet  and  decked 
with  gold  and  precious  stones  and  pearls,  though  Baby- 
lon, the  mother  of  harlots,  may  be  (Rev.  xvii.  4)  ;  and 
the  impudence  must  be  nearly  diabolical  which  can  as- 
sert it.  The  body  of  Christ  is  holy,  and  its  members 
are  the  saints,  the  holy  ones,  wherever  they  are  found. 
The  renewed,  the  converted,  the  faithful,  who  receive 
the  testimony  of  God  ;  the  poor  in  spirit,  to  whom  be- 
longs the  kingdom ;  the  pure  in  heart,  who  shall  see 


CHAPTER   V.     VERSES  22-33.  397 

God ;  the  persecuted  for  righteousness'  sake,  of  whom 
the  world  is  not  worthy, — these  are  the  body  of  Christ, 
the  glorious  corporation  which  the  Holy  Ghost  is  form- 
ing, and  which  shall  survive  all  earthly  things  and 
flourish  immortally  in  the  kingdom  of  God, 

Eighth.  3Iarriage.  '"''For  this  cause  shall  a  man  leave 
his  father  and  mother,  and  shall  be  joined  unto  his  wife, 
and  they  two  shall  be  one  flesh''  (ver.  31).  The  apostle, 
having  referred  to  Gen.  ii.  22  as  containing  a  typical 
reference  to  the  union  between  Christ  and  the  Church, 
now  turns  again  to  the  natural  physical  relation,  which 
he  confirms  from  Gen.  ii.  24 :  "  For  this  cause  " — viz., 
the  closeness  of  the  union — "  shall  a  man  leave  his 
father  and  mother,  and  shall  be  joined  to  his  wife,  and 
they  two  shall  be  one  flesh."  Meyer  refers  the  phrase 
for  this  cause  (ver.  31)  exclusively  to  ver.  30,  and,  fol- 
lowing Bengel,  Grotius  and  others,  asserts  that  the  man 
leaving  father  and  mother  must  be  Christ.  It  is  true 
that  Jesus  left  his  Father  and  came  down  to  redeem  the 
l»ride,  but  this  truth  is  not  taught  in  the  text ;  it  is  also 
true,  as  Meyer  asserts,  that  he  shall  leave  his  Father's 
throne,  where  he  now  is,  and  come  in  the  glory  of  his 
royal  state  to  claim  his  Bride,  but  this  is  not  taught  ui 
our  text.  The  thirty-first  verse  is  a  description  of  the 
marriage  relation,  and  does  not  refer  to  Christ  and  the 
C%urch  in  any  one  respect. 

The  words  they  two  form  a  strong  argument  against 
}»olygamy.  The  Scripture  in  a  thousand  ways  recog- 
nizes the  propriety  of  monogamy,  though  polygamy  is 
nowhere  expressly  forbidden.  (1)  God  created  one 
man  and  one  woman  in  the  beginning,  which  shows 
clearly  the  intention  of  the  Creator  that  a  man  should 
have  onlv  one  wife.     (2)   It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that 


398  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIAXS. 

the  sexes  are  nearly  equal.  I  was  told  by  a  pastor  in  a 
very  large  congregation  that  after  twenty  years'  labor 
the  number  of  males  and  females  baptized  was  abso- 
lutely the  same.  All  our  population  tables  bring  out 
nearly  the  same  result,  which  sliows  how  unnatural 
polygamy  is,  and  how  impjjs-ible  to  generalize  it.  In- 
deed, even  in  Mohammedan  countries  comparatively 
few  men  have  more  than  one  wife.  (3)  There  are 
tr  -ces  of  the  natural  and  scriptural  doctrine  of  mar- 
riage in  the  histories  and  traditions  of  all  nations, 
savage  as  well  as  civilized.  (4)  Polygamy  is  the 
source  of  boundless  evils — bitterness,  feuds,  destruc- 
tion, divided  affections  (if,  indeed,  pure  affection  can 
exist  in  it),  mutual  hatred  and  jealousy;  and,  instea<l 
of  increas  ng,  it  infallibly  diminishes,  the  population, 
as  we  see  in  the  empire  of  the  Osmanlies,  of  which  it 
has  been  truly  said  "  that  Turkey  is  perishing  for  want 
of  Turks." 

Marriage  and  the  Sabbath — an  ordinance  of  nature 
and  an  ordinance  of  grace — are  the  only  two  institu- 
tions which  have  descended  to  us  from  paradise ;  and 
when  complied  with  in  the  spirit  of  their  divine  Au- 
thor, they  are  the  source  of  innumerable  blessings  to 
mankind.  Olshausen's  opinion  that  the  enjoyments  of 
marriage  typified  the  union  of  the  Head  with  the  mem- 
bers in  the  Lord's  Supper,  when  they  become  one  with 
him  by  eating  his  flesh  and  drinking  his  blood,  is  ab- 
surd, carnal  and  contrary  to  the  text. 

The  apostle  now  leaves  the  type  and  resumes  the  con- 
sideration of  the  thing  typified. 

Ninth.  The  great  mystery.  "  This  is  a  great  m,ystery : 
but  I  speak  concerning  Christ  and  the  Church  "  (ver. 
82).     The  great  mystery  is  not  that  Christ  loved  the 


CHAPTER    V.    VERSES  22-33.  399 

Church  and  gave  himself  for  it,  for  this  was  known 
long  before  ;  and  what  is  known  ceases  to  be  a  mystery. 
Mystery  is  not  a  thing  that  cannot  be  understood,  but 
something  that  has  not  hitherto  been  revealed ;  the 
word  is  applied  to  the  facts,  types  and  ordinances  of 
Judaism  which  adumbrated  the  doctrines  of  the  cross. 
Hence  the  office  of  Christ  was  to  make  known  the 
mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  (Matt,  xiii.  11). 
Hence  the  secret  working  of  the  Babylonian  Antichrist, 
in  which  the  liar  assumes  the  garb  of  an  angel  of  light, 
is  called  the  mystery  of  iniquity  (lawlessness,  having  no 
law,  being  above  law,  like  God)  (2  Thess.  ii.  7),  and  the 
coming  of  Christ  in  the  fle.-^h  is  cil'ed  the  mystery  of 
godliness  (1  Tim.  iii.  16).  (See  the  use  of  the  word 
"  mystery  "  in  the  following  passages :  Eph.  iii.  4 ;  vi. 
19  ;  Col.  iv.  3;  1  Tim.  iii.  9;  Rom.  xi.  25;  xvi.  25; 
1  Cor.  ii.  7 ;  iv.  1 ;  xiii.  2.) 

Here,  in  our  passage,  the  fine  comparison  between 
the  husband  and  the  wife  and  Christ  and  the  Church 
is  called  a  great  mystery,  not  because  it  is  not  know- 
able,  but  because  it  was  not  hitherto  fully  revealed,  nor 
is  it  now,  nor  shall  it  be  until  the  coming  of  the  Lord 
shall  make  manifest  all  strength  and  wisdom  of  the  tie 
which  unites  the  members  with  the  Head.  I  do  not  say 
that  a  mystery  is  something  which  we  fully  understand 
even  when  it  is  revealed,  but  that  it  is  something  which 
may  be  understood,  and  which  we  are  not  forbidden  to 
search  after.  The  union  of  Christ  and  his  Church  is  a 
glorious  mystery,  h"nted  at  in  the  Old  Testament,  real- 
ized fully  in  the  incarnation  and  work  of  the  Redeemer, 
and  yet  to  be  fully  manifested  when  we  shall  see  him 
as  he  is  and  know  even  as  we  are  known.  Adam  and 
Eve  in  the  happy  garden  were  types  of  it;  the  Jewish 


400  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

nation,  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  world  and  dedi- 
cated to  the  service  of  God,  symholized  it  (Isa.  liv.  5  ; 
Ps.  xlv. ;  Ezek.  xvi. ;  Hos.  ii.  16)  ;  and  the  faitliful 
husband,  loving,  protecting  and  in  all  things  identified 
with  his  wife,  is  the  perpetual,  external  and  universal 
memorial  of  it.*  Marriage  is  the  mystery  of  natural 
life  springing  forth  in  all  directions  as  from  a  fountain 
until  it  fill  the  world  with  men  ;  the  union  of  the  Church 
with  her  Head  in  heaven  is  the  mystery  of  spiritual 
life,  which,  breaking  forth  in  the  wilderness  like  the 
streams  from  the  rock,  shall  go  on  increasing  and  mul- 
tiplying till  the  world  be  filled  with  Christians.  Our 
union  with  Adam  is  the  moral  bond  which  unites  the 
whole  family  of  earth,  and  our  union  with  Christ,  the 
second  Adam,  is  the  spiritual  bond  which  unites  all  the 
family  of  heaven.  These  are  the  two  fountains,  the 
two  Adams,  the  two  poles  of  the  natural  and  the  spirit- 
ual, the  two  kingdoms  which  have  existed  from  the  be- 
ginning, and  under  the  forms  of  hell  and  heaven  shall 
exist  for  ever. 

Tenth.  The  thirty-third  verse  contains  nothing  new 
save  the  phrase  "  and  the  wife  see  that  she  reverence  her 
Jiusband.''^  Here  wife  {gune)  is  the  nominative  absolute, 
and  can  be  understood  only  by  reference  to  som^  verb 
understood.  (For  the  use  of  the  particle  "  that "  (hina), 
see  Winer,  sect.  44,  4.)  But  the  sentiment  here  is  im- 
portant :  If  the  husband  is  bound  to  love  and  protect, 
she  is  equally  bound  to  obey  and  reverence.  He  is 
the  type  of  power,  wisdom  and  divine  love ;  she,  of 
obedience,    attachment   and    reverence.      The    faithful 

*  Jerome  translates  mystery  in  this  passage  by  the  word  sacr amentum, 
and  on  this  false  translation  tlie  whole  popish  doctrine  of  marriage  as  a 
sacrament  is  built. 


CHAPTER  VI.    VERSES  1-9.  401 

wife  following  her  husband  in  the  trials  and  dangers 
of  life  is  the  type  of  the  Church  leaning  on  the  arm  of 
her  Redeemer  and  braving  with  him  all  the  dangers  of 
Egypt,  the  wilderness  and  the  Jordan  of  death.  Thus 
all  the  relations  of  human  life  are  consecrated  and 
blessed  with  a  heavenly  unction  ;  so  that  in  the  midst 
of  earthly  duties  and  obligations  there  is  always  a 
breath  and  a  savor  of  heaven.  The  family  circle  is 
filled  with  the  choicest  fruits,  and  is  compared  to  a 
garden  which  the  Lord  has  blessed.  Jesus  rules  in 
each  member  and  love  becomes  the  o^uidino;,  central 
principle  of  all  their  actions. 

This,  however,  leads  the  apostle  to  another  family 
relationship,  to  which  we  must  now  turn  your  atten- 
tion. 

JEleventh.  Ohedience.  "'Children,  obey  yoiw 'parenU 
in  the  Lord ;  for  this  is  right  "  (chap.  vi.  1). 

The  Greek  word  for  "  children  "  [tekna]  means,  in 
this  passage,  "  natural  children,"  as  in  the  following 
and  many  similar  scriptures:  Matt.  x.  21  ;  Acts  vii.  5; 
both  sons  and  daughters,  like  the  Hebrew  (Gen.  iii.  16 ; 
XXX.  1 ;  xxxiii.  (3).  It  means  descendants  or  posterity 
(Matt.  iii.  9;  Luke  i.  17;  iii.  8;  Acts  ii.  39;  1  Pet. 
iii.  6,  "  daughters"). 

It  is  used  figuratively  in  the  following  significations : 
(1)  To  denote  descendants  (Matt.  ix.  2 ;  Mark  ii.  5 ; 
1  Tim.  i.  18;  2  Tim.  ii.  1).  The  usage  (Mark  x.  23) 
is  the  same  as  the  Hebrew  (1  Sam.  iii.  9-16).  (2) 
Disciples  or  scholars  (2  Tim.  ii.  1 ;  Pliilem.  10;  1  Cor. 
iv.  17  :  here  it  is  "  in  the  Lord  ;"  1  Tim.  i.  2,  "  in  the 
faith"). 

Take  these  significations  together,  and  you  have  the 
explanation  of  the  following  phrases : "  the  children  of 

51 


402  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

God"  (Jolin  i.  12;  Horn.  viii.  16-21;  ix.  8;  1  John 
iii.  1)  ;  "  children  of  the  devil  "  (1  John  iii.  10 ;  so  the 
Hebrew  and  the  Septuagint,  2  Kings  xvii.  7) ;  "the  chil- 
dren of  Jerusalem  "  (Luke  xix.  44 ;  Gal.  iv.  25 ;  Rev. 
ii.  23) ;  "  the  children  of  wisdom  "  (Matt.  xi.  19 ;  Luke 
vii.  35)  ;  "  children  of  light "  (Eph.  v.  8)  ;  "  children 
of  obedience"  (1  Pet.  i.  14);  "children  of  wrath" 
(Eph.  ii.  3)  ;  "  children  of  apostasy,"  "  children  of 
unrighteousness."  (See  Deut.  xxv.  2 ;  1  Kings  ii.  26 ; 
2  Kings  xiv.  14.)  Many  similar  phrases  are  found 
both  in  Scripture  and  in  the  classics,  but  they  are 
without  any  difficulty  and  need  not  be  repeated. 

But,  leaving  the  form  of  expression,  we  observe  that 
obedience  is  a  natural  duty  confirmed  and  sanctioned 
in  every  way  by  the  word  of  God.  We  owe  to  our 
parents  life,  being,  health,  food,  raiment — in  fact,  all 
earthly  blessings  ;  and  love,  veneration,  obedience,  seem 
to  be  only  a  natural  return  on  our  part.  This  is  one 
of  the  very  instincts  of  nature  and  is  coextensive  with 
the  species,  varying  among  the  different  nations  and 
religions  in  strength  and  intensiveness,  but  existing 
everywhere — the  very  root  and  basis  of  all  other 
duties  and  obligations.  The  reason  or  ground  given 
is  that  it  is  right,  wliich  Theodoret  expounds  by  the 
words  "  according  to  the  law  of  God." 

The  only  limitation  given  is  in  the  words  in  the  Lord, 
which  are  not  to  be  joined  with  parents,  as  if  the  obedi- 
ence were  required  only  to  spiritual  parents,  but  with 
the  verb  obey,  and  should  be  rendered  thus :  Children, 
obey,  in  the  Lord,  your  parents — that  is,  obey  your 
natural  parents  in  so  far  as  their  commands  are  accord- 
ing to  the  will  of  the  Lord.  His  will  is  the  limitation  ; 
all  commands  find  their  boundary-line  at  this  point — 


CHAPTER    VI.    VERSES   1-9.  403 

numely,  the  will  of  God,  or,  which  is  the  same  thing, 
the  fundamental  principles  of  our  moral  nature  (Acts 
V.  28,  29;  iv.  19). 

This  glorious  principle  of  obedience  is  the  law  of 
the  happy  universe,  and  the  moment  it  is  violated 
death,  confusion  and  chaos  flow  in  upon  us,  as  if  the 
fountains  of  the  great  deep  were  broken  open.  God, 
the  living  God,  King  and  Creator,  sits  at  the  centre  of 
this  great  universe,  upon  which  he  has  imjDressed  the 
law  of  obedience  as  the  condition  of  its  blessedness, 
and  while  this  law  is  obeyed  it  is  holy  and  happy  and 
blessed.  Through  the  wide  circles  of  the  heavens  the 
royal  law  of  loving  obedience  sheds  its  benedictions ; 
and  the  hearts,  families,  churches  and  kingdoms  on 
the  earth  where  its  authority  is  most  fully  realized 
are  the  best  types  and  examples  of  the  heavenly  state. 
It  is  the  constant  aim  of  the  divine  mercy  to  restore 
in  our  rebellious  province  the  supremacy  of  this  celes- 
tial law,  and  hence  the  new  and  nobler  motives  for 
keeping  it  which  have  been  furnished  by  the  gospel. 
It  is  no  longer  a  Creator  invested  with  the  attributes 
of  vengeance  and  terror  who  sj^eaks  to  us  of  a  broken 
law  out  of  the  midst  of  the  fire,  but  a  Redeemer,  our 
Kinsman  and  Brother,  who  tells  us  of  his  dying  love, 
of  the  law  vindicated  and  made  honorable,  and  of  the 
coming  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Comforter,  to  write  the 
new  law  of  loving  obedience  upon  our  hearts.  Let 
this  obedience  in  the  Lord  become  the  law  of  our 
families,  and  from  that  moment  a  new  life  and  a  new 
spirit  will  flow  into  them :  the  parents  will  rule  in  the 
Lord,  and  the  children  will  obey  in  the  Lord ;  the  masters 
will  no  more  exact,  and  the  servants  will  no  longer 
seek  to  deceive ;  the  magistrate  will  judge  in  the  fear 


*04  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

of  the  Lord,  and  the  subjects  will  obey  him  joyful Iv, 
not  only  for  wrath,  but  for  conscience'  sake.  Tlie  eye 
cannot  behold,  the  very  heart  cannot  imagine,  a  lovelier 
spectacle  in  this  sin-stricken  world  of  ours  than  a  quiet, 
obedient  family  where  everything  is  done  in  the  Lord 
and  as  unto  the  Lord.  In  such  a  family  the  principle 
of  obedience  is  love.  It  is  no  mere  external  obedience, 
such  as  we  sometimes  see  in  soldiers  and  servants,  where 
there  is  nothing  of  respect  or  of  veneration.  Hence  the 
apostle  adds — 

Twelfth.  ^^ Honor  thy  father  and  mother  ;  ivhich  is  the 
first  commandment  with  promise''''  (ver.  2).  The  second 
commandment  has  a  promise  of  mercy  to  those  in  gen- 
eral who  keep  the  commandments  of  God ;  the  fifth  is 
the  first  to  which  a  special  promise  is  annexed.  Jer- 
ome and  others  thought  there  was  something  like  a 
contradiction  here.  Jerome  says :  ''  Quod  est  manda- 
tum  primtim  iii  promissione,  quasi  quatuor  alia  man- 
data,  qua'  ante  dicta  sunt  non  habeant  promissiones,  et 
in  hoc  solo  policitatio  feratur  adjuncta  " — that  is,  "As 
if  the  four  ])receding  commandments  have  no  prom- 
ises, while  this  alone  has."  It  is,  however,  an  unde- 
niable fact  that  the  fifth  is  the  first  commandment  with 
a  special  promise  attached,  and  surely  that  should 
silence  the  cavils  of  these  objectors  and  faultfinders. 

But  what  is  the  promise,  and  how  can  it  influence  us  ? 

The  promise  is  twofold — prosperity  and  long  life, 
the  two  great  blessings  promised  to  Israel  of  old.  Ju- 
daism was  the  childhood  of  the  Church  (Gal.  iv.  1-4), 
and  the  law  perfected  the  bringing  in  of  a  better  hope 
and  a  firmer  covenant  whose  promises  reach  onward 
and  upward  to  the  eternal  world.  Canaan,  the  wil- 
derness and    Egypt  were  indeed   literal   and    positive 


CHAPTER    VI.     VEESES   1-9.  405 

realities  for  the  typical  nation  whose  ordinances  and 
ceremonies,  stately  and  full  of  significance,  carried 
the  eye  of  hope  forward  to  the  antitypes — to  the  evil 
of  sin  and  the  coming  of  the  Deliverer  to  destroy  it ; 
to  the  conflict  with  spiritual  enemies,  the  triumph  of 
the  believer  over  them,  the  pilgrimage  to  a  better  world 
and  the  eternal  reward  when  the  victory  is  won.  But 
Canaan,  the  wilderness  and  Egypt,  the  temporal  prom- 
ises of  the  Jews  and  their  worldly  sanctuary,  have  for 
us  a  still  higher  significancy,  as  they  are  the  drapery 
in  which  so  many  spiritual  realities  are  shrouded,  the 
enamel  in  which  the  pearls  of  great  price  are  fast,  the 
veils  and  vestments  of  blue  and  purple  and  fine  linen 
which  surrounded  the  all-glorious  person  of  the  Re- 
deemer. We  see  it  all,  and  understand  it  all.  Paul, 
in  the  Hebrews,  has  let  us  into  the  secret  of  the  Mosaic 
ceremonial,  and  we  are  able  to  enter  into  and  enjoy  all 
the  Jewish  promises  with  a  nobler  ardor  than  even  the 
the  Jews  themselves.  Besides,  the  New  Testament  as 
well  as  the  Old  Testament  sustains  us  with  temporal 
promises;  it  supports  and  comforts  us,  indeed,  main- 
ly by  the  assurance  of  future  glory  at  the  coming  of 
the  Lord ;  but  the  hope  of  temporal  blessings  is  by  no 
means  excluded  (Matt.  vi.  33 ;  1  Tim.  iv.  8 ;  Luke  xii. 
31 ;  1  Pet.  iii.  10-12).  Godliness  has  the  promise  both 
of  the  life  that  now  is  and  of  that  which  is  to  come. 
The  faithful  child  may  take  refuge  in  the  promise  of 
his  father  that  his  bread  shall  be  given  and  his  water 
made  sure ;  he  will  honor  his  father  and  mother,  that 
it  may  be  well  with  him  and  that  he  may  live  long  on 
the  earth.  He  would,  indeed,  sometimes  "  desire  to 
depart  and  be  with  Christ,  which  is  far  better"  (Phil, 
i.  23) ;  but  he  knows  and  feels  that  the  lonoer  his  davs 


406  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

are  prolonged,  the  more  opportunities  will  he  have  t() 
])ear  witness  to  the  name  of  his  absent  Lord.  This  is 
the  place  of  danger  and  of  honor — the  battle-held  on 
which  the  soldiers  of  the  cross  must  take  their  stand ; 
and  he  would  willingly  spend  all  his  strength  and 
courage  in  such  a  glorious  warfare. 

"  Vita  nostra  plena  bellis 
Inter  hostes  inter  arma, 
More  belli  vivitur; 
NuUse  lucis  absque  pugna, 
Nullse  noctes  absque  luctu 
Terrse  dantur  filiis."  * 

Or  take  the  same  in  a  lii)e  German  translation,  which, 
though  free,  is  very  beautiful : 

"  Unser  Leben  ist  ein  kriegen, 
Feinde  rings,  Geschosse  fliegeu 

Wie  im  Kriege  stets  umher, 
Kampfen  musst  du  alle  Tage 
Keine  Nacht  ist  ohne  Plage 

Fiir  uns  Erdensohne  mehr." 

The  promise  may  indeed  have  a  wider  application  in 
reference  to  both  tlie  Jewish  and  the  Christian  econo- 
mies, thus  :  Let  children  obey  and  honor  their  parents, 
for  this  is  indispensably  necessary  to  your  moral  and  po- 
litical well-being.  When  such  honor  and  obedience  are 
wanting,  the  bands  of  society  are  breaking  up  and  the 
elements  of  national  prosperity  ready  to  be  dissolved. 
I  do  not  say  this  was  in  the  mind  of  the  Jewish  legis- 

*"Our  life  is  full  of  wars 
Among  enemies  and  arms ; 
We  live  as  soldiers  do: 
No  days  without  fighting, 
No  nights  without  sorrow, 
Are  given  to  the  children  of  earth." 


CHAPTER    VI.     VERSES   1-9.  407 

liitor,  but  it  follows  as  a  necessary  corollary  from  the 
exact  meaning  of  the  text.  The  long  life  and  prosper- 
ity of  the  individuals  necessarily  lead  to  the  perpetuity 
and  prosperity  of  the  state.  The  whole  body  politic  is 
but  the  union  of  the  individuals  that  compose  it,  the 
nation  is  but  an  enlarged  individual,  and  the  whole 
human  family  is  nothing  but  Adam  dilated  ;  so  that 
tlie  promises  and  the  blessings  attached  to  individual 
families  in  obeying  and  honoring  their  parents  may 
without  straining  be  extended  to  all  proper  honor  and 
obedience  both  in  the  Church  and  in  the  State. 

Thirteenth.  "And,  ye  fathers,  provoke  not  your  chil- 
dren to  wrath :  but  bring  them  up  in  the  nurture  and 
admonition  of  the  Lord. "  (ver.  4) . 

The  fathers  is  without  doubt  to  be  taken  in  the 
natural  sense  (Mark  v.  40 ;  Luke  ii.  48 ;  Heb.  xi.  23 : 
here  "  fathers  "  vaQ'axi^  parents).  "  Father,"  in  Greek, 
is  often  only  a  name  of  honor  and  respect  (1  Cor. 
iv.  15 ;  Phil.  ii.  22 ;  1  Thess.  ii.  11)  ;  it  signifies  (like 
the  Hebrew  ab)  the  source,  origin  or  author  of  any- 
thing, and  is  applied  in  many  ways  in  the  Holy  Script- 
ure; as,  the  father  of  circumcision  (Rom.  iv.  12)  ;  the 
father  of  lies  (John  viii.  44).  God  is  the  Father  of 
the  human  race,  of  the  Jewish  nation  (John  viii.  41), 
of  the  Christian  Church  (John  i.  12;  Rom.  viii.  16), 
and  in  an  altogether  peculiar  sense  he  is  the  Father 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  (See  Matt.  xi.  27 ;  xxviii. 
19  ;  Luke  ix.  26 ;  x.  22  ;  John  i.  14,  18  ;  iii.  35.) 

The  duty  of  fathers  is  both  negative  and  positive. 
In  Colossians  (iii.  21)  the  apostle  adds  the  reason  why 
we  should  not  provoke  our  children  to  wrath — viz., 
lest  they  be  discouraged.  You  may  excite  and  enrage 
your  children  in  many  ways,  such  as  by  hastiness  of 


408  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

temper,  by  punishing  inytead  of  correcting  them,  by 
severity  instead  of  the  spirit  of  kindness  and  love,  by 
threatenings  which  you  do  not  intend  to  execute,  and 
by  promises  which  you  can  never  j)erform.  Rasli 
actions  and  untempered  words  may  provoke  them  to 
anger  and  discourage  them  exceedingly.  Everything 
partial,  cruel  and  unjust  should  be  avoided  if  you  wish 
your  children  to  honor  and  obey  you. 

Then  the  positive  duty  is  to  bring  them  up  in  the 
nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord — that  is,  in  the 
education  and  discipline  which  God  requires.  "  Educa- 
tion "  (paideia)  here  includes  all  the  family  and  rela- 
tive duties,  such  as  love,  respect  and  obedience ;  all  the 
doctrines,  duties  and  moralities  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion ;  all  the  honest  or  honorable  trades  and  pro- 
fessions by  which  children  can  be  made  to  provide  for 
themselves.  In  one  word,  you  should  give  your  chil- 
dren, in  the  highest  and  best  sense  of  the  word,  a  good 
education.  Then  this  should  be  accompanied  all 
through  with  the  nouthesia,  or  proper  discipline, 
mental  and  moral,  which  will  enable  the  children 
to  turn  this  education  to  good  account.  This  right 
disposing  of  the  nous,  this  infusing  into  the  mind  the 
principles  of  restraint,  moral  control  and  self-govern- 
ment, is  more  important  than  the  amount  of  instruction 
communicated.  A  well-regulated  mind  is  as  noble  a 
sight  as  a  well-informed  one,  and  the  perfection  of  the 
family  training  consists  in  the  union  of  both.  There 
should  be  the  stores  of  knowledge  from  which  to  draw 
and  the  well-regulated  mind  to  use  them  properly,  and 
both  these  great  practical  principles  or  duties  should 
be  enforced  as  coming  from  and  leading  to  the  Lord ; 
for  such  is  the  double  meaning  of  the  genitive  in  this 


CHAPTER    VI.    VERSES   1-9.  409 

passage.  If  we  must  choose  between  the  subjective 
and  the  objective,  we  at  once  prefer  the  former ;  it  is 
an  education  and  a  discipline  which  proceed  from  the 
Lord  and  must  be  based  upon  gospel  teachings.  His 
will  is  the  ruling  principle  in  the  whole  process ;  and 
if  this  be  neglected,  no  blessing  from  the  Lord  can  be 
expected  to  follow  your  efforts. 

Fourteenth.  Slaves,  servants.     ''Servants,  be  obedient 
to  them  that  are  your  masters  according  to  the  flesh,  with 
fear  and  trembling,  in  singleness  of  your  heart,  as  unto 
Christ"  (ver.  5).     Slavery  is  one  of  the  most  ancient, 
extensive    and    demoralizing    institutions    of    the   old 
world,  and  the  apostle  cannot  pass  it  in  silence.     It  is 
fundamentally    anti-Christian,  and    the    apostle    never 
could  have  founded,  or  recommended  the  founding  of, 
such  an  institution.     On  the  contrary,  he  advises  the 
practical  abolition  of  it  wliere  it  may  be  done  without 
violence  (1  Cor.  vii.  21),  and  introduces  the  principle 
of  a   higher   liberty,   which    altogether   equalizes   the 
master  and  the  slave  in  the  eye  of  the  heavenly  Law- 
giver.    Look  at  Christianity  from  whatever  point  of 
view  you  please,  and  you  will  find  it  opposed  to  the 
slavery  of  the  ancient  world,   and  to   all  slavery  of 
mind  and  body  everywhere.     Compared  with  the  sys- 
tems, principles  and    religions  of  old   heathen   times, 
Chi'istianity    is    essentially    democratic    and    leveling. 
It   teaches   the  unity   of    the   human    race,  and  that 
the  same  blood  flows  through  us  all;    it  teaches  the 
fallenness  of  our  whole  nature,  and,  consequently,  the 
sinful  equality  of  masters  and  their  slaves  in  the  sight 
of  God;  it  teaches  that  the  same  divine  ransom— even 
the  precious  blood  of  Christ— was  freely  and  equally 
shed  for   us   all.      The  master   and   his    slaves   must 

62 


410  GKAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

stand  at  the  same  laver  of  baptismal  purification,  must  sit 
down  side  by  side  at  the  same  table  of  the  Lord,  and, 
beins:  washed  and  sanctified  and  iustified  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  and  by  the  Spirit  of  our  God,  must  share 
together  the  same  Father's  house  in  the  kingdom  above. 
All  these  doctrines  and  principles  are  directly  opposed 
to  slavery,  and  when  freely  admitted  into  the  commu- 
nity must  eventually  lead  to  the  abolition  of  it. 

The  principle  of  the  new  life,  however,  does  not  act 
convulsively,  but,  like  the  law  of  Nature  in  the  vege- 
table kingdom,  gradually  sheds  forth  its  all-pervading 
vigor  until  the  whole  community  flourishes  and  blooms 
with  the  health  and  freshness  of  a  moral  renovation. 
Our  religion  is  the  gospel  of  peace.  Jesus  Christ  did 
not  shed  his  blood  to  set  the  slave  against  his  master 
or  {he  subjects  against  their  governors,  though  slavery 
and  tyranny  were  both  crying  evils  deserving  the 
reprobation  of  both  earth  and  heaven.  No  ;  the  slave 
is  to  obey  quietly,  as  before  the  Lord,  and  the  master 
is  to  treat  him  kindly,  knowing  that  he  too  has  a 
Master  in  heaven  (Col.  iii.  22 ;  1  Tim.  vi.  1  ;  Tit.  ii.  9; 
1  Pet.  ii.  18;  Philem.  15,  16).  From  these  passages 
it  is  manifest  that  the  mere  fact  of  being  in  slavery 
does  not  justify  the  slaves  in  abandoning  their  masters. 
If  there  be  cruelty  and  tyranny  on  the  part  of  the 
master,  so  that  the  position  of  the  slave — evil  in  its 
own  nature — becomes  intolerable,  then  we  must  judge 
of  his  violence  and  insubordination  as  we  judge  of 
tlie  risings  and  rebellions  of  oppressed  subjects  against 
their  tyrannical  rulers.  The  apostle  does  not,  either 
here  or  elsewhere,  give  one  precept  or  command  which 
can  fairly  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  slavery  is  script- 
ural or  that  the  slave-owner  has  a  right  to  appeal  to 


CHAPTER  VI.    VERSES   1-9.  411 

revelation  for  his  justification.  He  says  nothing  of 
the  slave-traffic,  nor  does  he  justify  the  principle  that 
man  should  have  property  in  his  fellow-man,  though 
he  very  clearly  teaches  that  Christianity  is  not  the 
religion  of  a  sect,  but  of  human  nature,  and  that  the 
slave  and  the  slaveholder  have  equal  need  of  its  pro- 
visions. The  gospel  is  not  the  standard  of  revolt 
around  which  the  idle,  the  ignorant  and  the  disaffected 
should  rally,  but  a  banner  of  peace  to  heal  all  the 
wounds  and  distractions  of  our  world.  Hence  the 
apostle  says,  "Servants"  (slaves),  "be  obedient  to  them 
that  are  your  masters  according  to  the  flesh,  with  fear 
and  trembling,  in  singleness  of  heart,  as  unto  Christ." 
Obedience  is  the  law  of  the  gospel  as  well  as  the  law 
of  the  unfallen  universe,  nor  can  the  enormous  evils  of 
the  ancient  slave-system  relieve  the  slave  from  the  duty 
of  it. 

The  words  "  according  to  the  flesh,"  however,  sug- 
gest that  they  have  another  Master,  even  a  heavenly, 
to  whom  the  slave  and  the  slaveholder  stand  in  the 
same  relation  of  sin  and  apostasy.  Be  of  good  cour- 
age ;  the  eye  of  Jesus  is  upon  you.  He  was  the  Lord 
and  became  the  servant  {doulos)  of  all ;  his  tender 
heart  feels  for  your  afflictions,  and  in  due  time  he  will 
deliver  you  as  he  did  the  Israelites  in  the  days  of  old. 
Your  position  is  indeed  severe  and  oppressive,  but 
grace  can  mitigate  its  bitterness ;  and  the  Lord  and 
(liver  of  all  grace  has  shared  it  with  you,  has  entered 
into  all  its  darkness  and  weariness  (Phil.  ii.  7),  and  he 
waited  patiently  for  deliverance  till  the  time  appointed 
of  the  Father.  Obey,  therefore,  as  he  obeyed,  for  he 
has  given  you  an  example  that  you  should  follow  his 
steps.     This  will  be  useful  also  to  your  masters,  and 


412  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

will  dispose  them  to  mildness  and  gentleness  when  they 
see  that  you  seek  to  obey  them  in  honesty  and  single- 
ness of  heart. 

The  three  words  as  to  Christ  show  the  lovely  prin- 
ciple of  the  gospel — a  principle  found  nowhere  else  on 
the  earth.  All  relations  of  life,  however  bitter,  are 
consecrated  and  sweetened  by  divine  love ;  the  Chris- 
tian serves  Christ  in  everything,  and  his  entire  service, 
whoever  may  be  his  immediate  master,  is  done  as  unto 
Christ. 

This  is  brought  out  more  fully  in  the  sixth  verse : 
"iVb^  ivith  eye-service  as  men-pleasers,  but  as  the  ser- 
vants of  Christ,  doing  the  will  of  God  from  the  hearth 
Eye-service  is  ^  word  formed  by  the  apostle  for  the 
occasion,  and  is  found  only  here  and  in  Colossians  (iii. 
22)  ;  it  naturally  pignifies  the  service  done  under  the 
eye  of  the  master,  and  includes  the  disposition  to  neg- 
lect it  when  the  master  is  absent.  From  the  heart  is, 
in  the  Greek,  "  from  the  soul,"  and  is  quite  a  peculiar 
expression.  The  apostle  here  and  elsewhere  shows 
that  he  felt  himself  perfectly  free  in  the  use  of  his 
words  and  phrases.  The  obedience  here  recommend- 
ed is  not  the  submission  of  hypocrisy  and  deceit,  but 
the  willing  obedience  of  the  heart  and  mind  as  unto 
the  Lord.  All  is  honest  and  open-hearted ;  everything 
breathes  the  spirit  of  a  heavenly  presence,  knowing  that 
whatever  good  thing  any  man  doeth  the  same  shall  he 
receive  of  the  Lord,  whether  he  be  bond  or  free ;  there 
is  one  common  Master,  one  great  Rewarder  in  the  heav- 
ens, before  whom  they  must  all  take  the  position  of 
needy  suppliants,  and  whose  gifts  of  pardon  and  of 
life  are  freely  distributed  to  all  believers,  whether 
they  be  bond  or  free. 


CHAPTER    VI.    VERSES   1-9.  413 

Fifteenth.  The  masters.  "And,  ye  masters,  do  the 
same  things  unto  them,  forbearing  threatening :  know- 
ing that  your  blaster  also  is  in  heaven  ;  neither  is  there 
respect  of  persons  with  him''^  (ver.  9).  Kurios  ("Lord," 
"  master,"  "  possessor  ")  is  used  in  the  New  Testament 
for  "  Jehovah  "  (Matt.  i.  22 ;  v.  33 ;  xxvii.  10 ;  Acts 
vii.  49) ;  it  is  used  for  Baal  or  simple  "  master,"  as 
the  master  of  a  house  (Mark  xiii.  35) ;  of  servants, 
slaves,  etc.  (Matt.  x.  24 ;  xxiv.  45 ;  Acts  xvi.  16) ;  of 
a  vineyard  (Matt.  xx.  8 ;  xxi.  40) ;  it  is  applied  to  the 
king  or  emperor  (Acts  xxv.  26)  and  to  the  heathen 
gods  (1  Cor.  viii.  5).  It  is  one  of  the  highest  titles 
given  to  the  supreme  God,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  it  is 
the  Greek  word  for  the  unutterable  name  "  Jehovah." 
It  is  applied  to  Jesus  Christ  in  the  following  as  well  as 
in  many  other  passages  :  Rom.  x.  12  ;  Heb.  ii.  8  ;  viii.  1. 
Thus  the  term  Kurios,  or  "  Lord,"  has  a  very  wide 
signification,  but  in  all  possible  applications  it  includes 
the  ideas  of  possession,  power  and  authority.  In  our 
text  it  designates  the  slave-owners,  to  whom  the  apos- 
tle now  turns  in  the  course  of  his  warnings  and  ex- 
hortations. 

This  apostolic  warning  to  masters  is  threefold. 

(1)  To  do  the  same  things  to  them — that  is,  the  will 
of  God.  The  obedience  and  the  faithful  service  of  the 
slaves  are  to  be  met  by  corresponding  qualities  in  the 
masters.  You  are  not  to  treat  them  as  your  property, 
for  they  belong  to  C^hrist ;  ye  are  not  to  say,  "  They  be- 
long to  me ;  their  feelings  are  of  no  importance  to  me ; 
I  wish  only  their  labors,  nor  am  I  under  any  obligations 
to  them  in  the  way  of  reciprocal  kindness  and  affection." 
No,  says  the  apostle ;  ye  are  to  do  the  same  things 
to  them ;  ther.'  is  to  be  one  law  to  both  parties,  one 


414  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

Judge  and  Creator    to  wliom   they  must  all    give   an 
account. 

(2)  Forbearing  threatening,  which  some  render  "re- 
mitting the  threatened  punishment."  The  Greek  arti- 
cle here  is  emphatic.  It  is  not  any  or  every  kind  of 
threatening,  or  threatening  in  general,  but  the  threaten- 
ing— that  is,  the  haughty,  cruel,  tyrannical,  threatening 
— manners  of  most  slaveholders.  "  Qiiem  admodum  vul- 
gus  dominorum  solet "  ("As  the  common  herd  of  mas- 
ters are  accustomed  to"),  says  Erasmus.  This  you  are 
to  give  up.  Your  servants  are  human,  and  you  are  to 
treat  them  humanely ;  all  overbearing  and  tyrannical 
conduct  must  be  abandoned,  and  your  awful  position  as 
slaveholders  must  not  be  made  the  means  of  degrading 
and  brutalizing  your  dependants. 

(3)  "  Ye  too  have  a  Master  in  heaven  to  whom  you 
are  responsible,  and  with  whom  there  is  no  respect  of 
persons."  This  view  of  the  character  of  God  must 
have  been  perfectly  new  to  the  heathen  slaveholders, 
and  tended,  no  doubt,  not  only  to  mitigate  the  bitter- 
ness of  slavery,  but  finally  to  break  the  yoke  alto- 
gether. 

This  finishes  the  apostle's  exhortations  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Christian  household,  and  truly  he  has  taught 
us  much  which  it  is  all-important  that  we  should  know 
and  observe.  There  is  more  of  truth  and  beauty  and 
holiness  in  these  few  verses  from  Ephesians  (chap.  v. 
22  to  vi.  10)  than  in  all  that  remains  of  the  heathen 
writers  of  antiquity  put  together.  Here  our  thoughts 
are  elevated  to  the  great  idea  of  a  family  in  which  the 
love  of  God  reigns ;  where  the  various  members,  in  their 
service  to  one  another  and  to  all  men,  are  fillt-d  witli 


CHAPTER    VI.    VERSES  1-9.  415 

one  common  spirit  of  charity  and  forbearance ;  where 
authority  is  tempered  by  mihhiess  and  obedience  and 
dignified  by  vohmtary  submission  to  the  will  and  exam- 
ple of  Christ,  It  is  a  sweet  circle  where  all  the  inner 
wheels,  great  and  small,  move  harmoniously,  being- 
tempered  by  grace ;  a  fruitful  field  where  the  breath 
of  heaven  is  j)leasant  and  all  the  fruits  of  righteous- 
ness grow  apace ;  a  home  of  peace  where  men  find 
their  happiest  hours  on  eartli  and  saints  the  sweetest 
foretastes  of  heaven. 

"  Selig  durch  die  Liebe, 
Gotter-durch  die  Liebe 

Men.schen  Gottern  gleich  ! 
Liebe  macht  den  Himmel 
Himmlischer — die  Erde 

Zu  dem  Himmelreich."  * 

*  Schiller. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

Finally,  my  brethren,  be  strong  in  the  Lord,  and  in  the  power  of  his 
might.  Put  on  the  whole  armor  of  God,  that  ye  may  be  able  to  stand 
against  the  wiles  of  the  devil.  For  we  wrestle  not  against  flesh  and 
blood,  but  against  principalities,  against  powers,  against  the  rulers  of 
the  darkness  of  this  world,  against  spiritual  wickedness  in  high  places. 
Wherefore  take  unto  you  the  whole  armor  of  God,  that  ye  may  be  able 
to  withstand  in  the  evil  day,  and  having  done  all,  to  stand.  Stand 
therefore,  having  your  loins  girt  about  with  truth,  and  having  on  the 
breastplate  of  righteousness ;  and  your  feet  shod  with  the  preparation 
of  the  gospel  of  peace;  above  all,  taking  the  shield  of  faith,  wlierewith 
ye  shall  be  able  to  quench  all  the  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked.  And  take 
the  helmet  of  salvation,  and  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  word 
of  God  :  praying  always  with  all  prayer  and  supplication  in  the  Spirit, 
and  watching  thereunto  with  all  perseverance  and  supplication  for  all 
saints;  and  for  me,  that  utterance  may  be  given  unto  me,  that  I  may 
open  my  mouth  boldly,  to  make  known  the  mystery  of  the  gospel,  for 
which  I  am  an  ambassador  in  bonds:  that  therein  I  may  speak  boldly, 
as  I  ought  to  speak.  But  that  ye  also  may  know  my  affairs,  and  how 
I  do,  Tychicus,  a  beloved  brother  and  faithful  minister  in  the  Lord, 
shall  make  known  to  you  all  things :  whom  I  have  sent  unto  you  for 
the  same  purpose,  that  ye  might  know  our  affairs,  and  that  he  might 
comfort  your  hearts.  Peace  be  to  the  brethren,  and  love  with  faith 
from  God  the  Father  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Grace  be  with  all 
them  that  love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity.  Amen. — Ephesians 
vi.  10-24. 

The  apostle,  having  finished  his  warnings  and  ex- 
liortations  to  the  various  chisses  in  the  church — such  as 
children  and  parents,  servants  and  masters — turns  now 
once  more  to  the  whole  body  of  believers  in  order  to 
prepare  them  for  the  spiritual  warfare  which  by  grace 
they  are  enabled  to  wage  against  the  enemies  of  their 

416 


CHAPTER    VI.     VERSES   10-24.  417 

souls.  From  verse  10  to  near  the  end  of  the  chapter 
we  have  one  of  the  noblest  delineations  anywhere  to 
be  found  of  the  controversy  between  the  soul  of  man 
enlightened  and  strengthened  by  the  grace  and  power 
of  God  and  the  kingdom  of  darkness  which  seeks  to 
hold  her  in  thrall. 

I.    First  Principles. 
If  we  analyze  this  noble  allegory,  we  find  the  follow- 
ing principles  taken  for  granted  as  the  necessary  basis 
on  which  it  rests  ; 

(1)  That  the  soul,  though  fallen,  is  conscious  of  her 
former  glory,  and  by  darkly  groping  and  longing  seeks 
to  regain  her  native  innocency.  We  may  say  with 
Augustine, 

"Ad  perennis  vitse  fontem 

Mens  aitivit  arida  ; 
Claustra  carnis  praesto  frangi, 

Clausa  quserit  anima; 
Gliscit,  ambit  eluctatur 

Exul  frui  patria."* 

(2)  That  the  soul  is  of  great,  peerless  value,  seeing; 
there  is  such  a  panoply  provided  to  defend  her.  Such  a. 
ransom  has  been  given  for  her ;  such  a  glorious  reward 
is  awaiting  her  victory. 

(3)  That  the  chief  enemy  of  man  is  the  devil  and 
his  dark  kingdom,  against  which  we  are  called  to 
wrestle.     Flesh  and  blood  are  not  our    only  nor  our 

*  "  For  the  living  fount  of  glory 

Longs  my  panting,  thirsting  soul, 
Longs  to  break  its  earthly  prison. 

Longs  to  reach  its  heavenly  goal, 
To  regain  its  lost  dominion. 

Far  beyond  this  world's  control." 
53 


418  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

greatest  enemies;  the  devil  is  going  about  like  a  roar- 
ing lion,  seeking  whom  he  may  devour. 

(4)  The  harmony  between  the  soul  of  man  and  the 
will  of  God  in  this  warfare.  The  two  extremes  must 
meet,  the  sovereignty  of  God  and  the  free  agency  of 
man  must  be  reconciled ;  it  is  a  wrestle  in  which  the 
human  will  must  engage  with  all  its  powers,  and  yet 
the  outfit  and  the  panoply,  the  strength  and  the  vic- 
tory, all  must  be  from  above. 

"  Ecce  cceli  lapsus  area 
Atque  spissa  nube  tectus, 
Rector  ipse  siderum 
Contra  salvos  mentis  hostes, 
Proeliantem  me  tuetur 
Bella  pro  me  suscipit." 

"Der  da  sliaut  von  Himmels  Bogen, 
Von  der  Wolke  dieht  umzogen : 
Der  da  lenkt  der  Sterne  Schaar, 
Der  wird  mir  zur  Seite  kaempfen, 
Feindesgriram  mir  helfen  diimpfen, 
Fur  mich  streiten  immerdar."* 

This  is  indeed  the  main  source  of  our  strength,  and 
in  proportion  as  we  use  it  are  we  bold  and  successful 
warriors  in  the  battles  of  the  faith.  He  is  with  us  and 
in  us,  and  the  sure  word  of  his  promise  shall  never 
fail.  These  thoughts  fill  the  victorious  soul  of  the 
apostle  as  with  words  of  fire  and  promises  of  glory 
he  seeks  to  enlist  us  under  the  banner  of  the  cross. 
Thus  in  his  final  exhortation  he  says,  to  lot-rcov  ("  for 
the  rest,"   "as   to   what  remains,"    "finally"),  not   rm 

*  "  Lo !  from  the  arch  of  heaven  descending, 
And  in  a  thick  cloud  arrayed, 
He,  the  Ruler  of  the  starry  vi'orld. 
Beholds  me  fighting  against  my  cruel  enemies, 
And  his  strong  hand  gives  me  the  victory." 


CHAPTER    VI.     VERSES   10-24.  419 

XocTiou  *  ("  from  henceforth,"  "for  the  rest  of  your  time  "), 
which  would  be  weak  here,  while  in  Gal.  vi.  17  it  is 
the  appropriate  form  of  expression.  (See  Phil.  iii.  1 ; 
iv.  8;  2  Cor.  xiii.  11 ;  1  Thess.  iv.  1 ;  2  Thess.  iii.  1.) 
To  A(n7io>  rarely  refers  to  time,  and  when  it  does  it  is  in 
such  circum>tances  that  the  meaning  cannot  be  mis- 
taken (Heb.  xii.  13),  and  almost  all  the  passages  can 
be  explained  without  any  reference  to  time.  (Com]>. 
1  Cor.  vii.  29;  Matt.  xxvi.  45;  Mark  xiv.  41.  Here 
it  may  mean  "  sleep  out  the  rest  of  your  sleep,"  etc.) 
For  the  further  use  of  the  phrase,  see  1  Cor.  iv.  2 ;  i. 
16 ;  2  Cor.  xiii.  11 ;  1  Thess.  iv.  1 ;  2  Tim.  iv.  8 ;  Acts 
xxvii.  29. 

11.  My  Brethren. 

The  apostle  begins  with  the  words  "3Iy  brethren'" '\ 
(ver.  10).  Nothing  can  be  more  natural  than  that  the 
apostle  in  his  last  exhortation  to  that  church  should 
address  them  as  his  brethren  in  Christ  and  soldiers 
under  the  same  banner  of  the  cross.  He  gives  them,  as 
brethren  (ver.  23),  the  salutation  of  peace,  and  the  spirit 
of  brotlierly  love  breathes  through  the  whole  Epistle. 
Let  us  now^  therefore,  consider  the  meaning  of  the  word. 

And  first,  no  doubt,  it  signifies  the  children  of  the 
same  father  and  mother  (Matt.  i.  2;  Luke  iii.  1,  19), 
or  of  the  same  father  only,  or  of  the  same  mother  only 
(Luke  vi.  14;  comp.  with  Matt.  i.  2).  Metaphorically, 
brother  is  applied  in  many  ways  :  men  of  the  same  race, 
blood-relations,  are  brethren  (Matt.  xii.  46  ;  John  vii.  3  ; 
Acts  i.  14 ;  Gal.  i.  19) :  so  the  Septuagint  for  the  He- 

*  Lachmann  and  Riickhert. 

t  Which  are  omitted  by  Lachmann  and  Tischendorf,  but  without  suf- 
ficient documental  authority;  nor  is  Olshausen's  suspicion  worthy  of 
much  regard. 


420  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

brew  ach  (Gen.  xiii.  8 ;  xiv.  1 6) ;  men  of  the  same 
country  are  brethren  (Matt.  v.  47  ;  Acts  iii.  22  ;  Heb. 
vii.  5) ;  one  of  equal  rank  and  dignity  is  a  brother 
(Matt,  xxiii.  8) :  so  Septuagint  and  Hebrew  (Prov. 
xviii.  9) ;  disciples,  followers,  are  brethren  (Matt.  xxv. 
40;  Heb.  ii.  11,  12);  persons  having  the  same  office, 
colleagues,  are  in  Scripture  called  brethren  (1  Cor.  i.  1), 
joined  with  fellow-slave  or  fellow-servant  (Rev.  vi.  11 ; 
comp.  Rev.  xix.  10 ;  xxii.  9)  :  so  the  Septuagint  and 
the  Hebrew ;  men  of  the  same  faith  are  bretliren,  fel- 
low-Christians (xicts  ix.  30;  xi.  29;  1  Cor.  v.  11 ; 
Amos  i.  9).  Ye  are  ray  brethren,  says  the  apostle; 
we  are  all  of  the  same  royal  family,  the  same  holy 
generation,  descended  from  the  second  Adam,  the 
Lord  from  heaven,  as  the  earthly  family  is  from  the 
earthly  Adam ;  we  are  fellow-countrymen,  citizens  of 
no  mean  city — that  is,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  which 
is  the  mother  of  us  all.  We  are  all  of  the  same  rank 
in  the  sight  of  God — viz.,  miserable  sinners  redeemed 
by  the  blood  of  Christ,  heirs  of  the  same  promises 
and  clothed  with  the  same  office  of  royal  priesthood. 
We  are  all  discij^tles  of  one  common  Master,  and  all 
animated  by  the  one  faith  of  the  Son  of  God,  who 
loved  us  and  gave  himself  for  us,  an  offering  and  a 
sacrifice  well-pleasing  to  God.  We  are  brethren  in 
every  sense  of  the  word ;  our  enemies,  our  trials,  our 
hopes  and  our  fears,  our  struggles  and  our  tempta- 
tions, are  all  the  same.  Therefore  I  exhort  you  to 
consider — 

III.  The  Source  of  your  Strength. 
Be  strong  in  the  Lord,  and  in  the  poioer  of  his  might 
ver.  10).     Here,  indeed,  is  the  source  of  our  strength, 


CHAPTER    VI.     VERSES   10-24.  421 

the  foimtiiin-head  from  which  flow  all  the  streams  of 
grace   to  water  the  weary  heritage  of  God.     We  are 
strong  in  his  strength.     The  joy  of  the  Lord  is  our 
strength,  and  in  the  consciousness  that  he  rejoices  over  us 
there  is  no  sacrifice  too  dear  for  us  to  make,  none  of  his 
and  our  enemies  over  whom  we  cannot  triumph.     When 
Jesus  Christ  is  before  our  mind's  eye,  when  his  name, 
memory  and  dying  love  are  in  our  hearts,  then,  indeed, 
sin  loses  its  attractions,  the  world   its   power  over  us, 
and  the  tempter  finds  no  entrance  into  our  souls.     Here 
tlie  weakest  saint  has  a  treasure  of  strength  against  the 
day  of  temptation.     Daniel  was  safe  in  the  lions'  den ; 
Joseph  was  raised  from  the  pit  and  the  prison  to  the 
light    hand    of  Pharaoh    himself;    the    three   faithful 
children  were  delivered  from  the  furnace ;  Peter  when 
sinking  found  the  hand  of  Jesus  ready  to  save ;  John 
in    his   lonely  isle   was   comforted   and   sustained   by 
apocalyptic  visions  which  showed  him  the  final  triumph 
of  Jesus  and  his  saints ;  the  denier  of  his  Lord  could 
not  meet  that  tender  Master's  eye  without  bitter  tears 
of  penitence ;   and  Stephen  in  the  midst  of  his  mur- 
derers found  succor  in    his  ascended  Lord,  and  died, 
as  his  Master  did,  breathing  forth  only  forgiveness  and 
love.     Oh,  brother,  here  is  a  fountain  of  joy,  a  rock  of 
strength,  for  pilgrims   like   you   and   me!     It   is   (en 
Kurio)  in  thy  dear  Lord  Jesus,  to  whom  all  power  in 
heaven  and  earth  is  given ;  in  whom  love  and  strength, 
weakness  and  majesty,  are  united  for  evermore;  who 
in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  before  the  worlds,  on  the 
cross  of  Calvary  as  the  dying  Lamb,  and  now  on  the 
throne  of  God  as  the  King  and  Mediator,  in  eternity 
and  time,  in  life  and  in  death,  is  the  one  loving  Brother 
in  whom    thou    canst  trust,  the  one  almighty  Friend 


422  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

and  Helper  for  all  the  weary  children  of  men.  Be, 
therefore,  strong  in  him.  Fear  neither  the  fierceness 
of  the  flesh  nor  the  roaring  of  the  lion.  He  lives,  and 
ye  shall  live ;  his  life  is  the  charter  of  yours.  "  Be- 
cause I  live,  ye  shall  live  also." 

"  If  thou,  0  Saviour,  still  art  nigh, 
Cheerful  I  live,  and  cheerful  die ; 
Secure  when  mortal  comforts  flee, 
I  find  a  thousand  worlds  in  thee." 

IV.  The  Panoply. 

We  come  now,  in  verse  11,  to  the  'panoply  and  the 
wiles  or  methods ;  the  defence  of  God's  grace  and  the 
attacks  of  the  devil. 

Put  on,  therefore,  the  whole  armor  of  God,  that  ye 
may  be  able  to  stand  against  the  wiles  of  the  devil. 

Observe  here  that  the  armor  must  be  complete ;  ye 
must  take  the  provision  which  divine  mercy  has  pro- 
vided for  you,  or  ye  cannot  come  6ff  victorious  in  the 
battles  of  the  faith.  Ye  must  fight  as  the  Captain  of 
salvation  orders  if  ye  expect  from  him  the  rewards 
of  victory.  The  self-willed,  who  fight  in  their  own 
way  and  with  their  own  weapons,  can  expect  no 
crowns  of  glory  from  him.  He  gives  the  strength 
and  he  provides  the  armor.  It  is  not  only  "  the 
panoply,"  but  "  the  panoply  of  God,"  in  which  the 
believer  stands  arrayed  in  the  day  of  battle  and  of 
victory.  It  is  from  the  armory  of  the  great  King, 
proved  in  many  a  hard  encounter  and  always  found 
a  complete  defence.  The  meaning  is  that  the  grace  of 
God  in  Jesus  Christ  is  sufticient  to  make  an  honest 
believer  in  the  gospel  pure,  to  keep  him  pure  in  the 
midst  of  all  possible  temptations,  and  finally  to  bring 


CHAPTER    VI.    VEESES  10-24.  423 

him  triumphantly,  in  spite  of  them  all,  into  the  king- 
dom and  glory  of  God.  This  is  the  great  idea  of  the 
passage,  and  surely  it  is  worthy  of  its  divine  Author. 
The  provision  is  sufficient  for  the  journey,  the  armor  is 
a  perfect  defence,  the  cross  is  the  assurance  of  finjil 
triumph.  Tourto  vcxa,  ''Hoc  signo  vince."  Under  this 
banner  we  conquer  still,  as  Constantine  did  in  the 
days  of  old  ;  and  it  is  a  glorious  fact  in  the  history  of 
the  Church,  in  all  her  persecutions  from  pagans  and 
popes,  that  the  strength  of  the  living  Head  has  been 
perfected  in  her  weakness  and  the  panoply  of  his 
providing  more  than  sufficient  for  her  protection  and 
defence. 

But  what  are  these  methods,  or  wiles  of  the  devil, 
against  which  we  are  exhorted  and  enabled  to  stand  ? 
These  are  the  stratagems  of  war,  the  attacks  of  the 
enemy,  the  various  trials  and  temptations  under  which 
we  feel  so  often  the  oppression  of  the  old  serpent,  the 
accuser  of  the  children  of  God.  Observe  the  contrast 
which  lies  in  these  words  "  the  whole  armor  of  God  " 
and  "  the  wiles  of  the  devil :"  the  armor  is  from  God, 
and  the  wiles  are  from  the  devil.  He  is  the  liar  from 
the  beginning,  and  his  kingdom  is  based  upon  darkness 
and  lies ;  nor  can  it  be  elfectually  overturned  but  by 
the  introduction  of  righteousness  and  truth.  He  is  the 
tempter,  having  the  experience  of  many  thousand  years 
to  perfect  his  plans  of  deception  and  carry  out  his 
diabolical  methods  (methodeias)  of  delusion  and  death. 
Strong  is  he,  as  his  names  and  his  attributes  demon- 
strate— ^the  lion  for  his  power,  the  dragon  for  his 
fierceness  and  the  old  serpent  for  his  wiles.  He  has 
skill  to  lay  his  snares  like  a  fowler,  and  superhuman 
energy  to  carry  them  into  execution.     He  can  boast  of 


424  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

an  ancient  and  extensive  kingdom  in  which  jDaganism 
and  papacy,  Islam  and  polytheism,  image-worshij), 
angel-worship  and  hero-worship,  are  some  of  the  cul- 
minating points.  All  these  are  but  the  garniture  of 
his  incarnated  personality,  the  draperies  that  surround 
the  shrine  of  his  worship,  the  courts,  alleys  and  cham- 
bers of  imagery  in  his  temple,  where  the  impure  and 
the  idolatrous  continually  perform  their  service.  See 
where  his  wiles  lead.  The  four  great  temptations 
before  which  so  many  have  fallen,  and  do  fall  con- 
tinually, are  distrust,  presumption,  ambition,  idolatry ; 
and  it  is  remarkable  that  the  tempter  tried  every  one 
of  them  in  the  temptation  of  our  Lord  (Matt.  iv.). 
He  begins  modestly  by  suggesting  some  doubts,  and 
then,  through  the  intermediate  stages  of  presumj)tion 
and  ambition,  leads  his  victorious  way  to  the  worship 
of  the  devil — to  fall  down  and  worship  me. 

Put  on  the  armor  quickly,  brother,  for  the  time  is 
pressing  and  the  danger  at  hand.  IJis  wiles  are  many, 
and  there  is  no  defence  but  in  the  wounds  of  Jesus. 
Take,  then,  the  panoply  which  God  has  provided,  and 
stand  fast  against  the  wiles  of  the  devil. 

V.    The  Wrestle. 

For  we  wrestle  not  against  flesh  and  blood,  but  against 
principalities,  against  powers,  against  the  rulers  of  the 
darkness  of  this  world,  against  spiritual  wickedness  in 
high  places  (ver.  12). 

Flesh  and  blood  here  does  not  mean  simply  "men"' 
or  "  human  nature,"  as  many  modern  commentators 
assert,  but  fallen,  corrupt  humanity  as  opposed  to  the 
righteousness  and  truth  of  the  gospel.  Flesh  and  blood 
are  the  human  enemies  of  every  name  and  kind.     The 


CHAPTER  VI.     VERSES  10-24.  425 

Jews  and  the  Gentiles,  the  world  and  its  lusts,  the  law 
of  the  members  that  wars  against  the  law  of  the  mind, 
the  tem})tations  and  sorrows  to  which,  for  the  sake  of 
Christ,  we  are  subjected, — all  these  are  our  inveterate 
enemies,  and  we  are  called  upon  to  resist  and  subdue 
them  ;  but  our  main  struggle  is  with  greater  antagonists 
than  these.  There  is  a  kingdom  of  darkness  to  be 
abandoned,  a  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air  to  be  re- 
sisted, the  god  of  this  world  to  be  contended  against ; 
and  this  part  of  the  contest,  being  the  hottest  and  keen- 
est, is,  by  way  of  emphasis,  called  "  the  wrestle."  (See 
2  Cor.  iv.  4 ;  Col.  ii.  15 ;  Luke  xxii.  53 ;  John  xii.  31 ; 
xiv.  30;  Col.  i.  13.) 

What,  then,  do  we  gather  from  these  and  similar 
passages  as  to  the  nature  of  the  kingdom  of  dark- 
ness ? 

(1)  That  there  is  a  spiritual  world  containing  two 
great  departments,  as  the  visible  does — the  good  and 
the  bad ;  the  fallen  angels  under  Satan  their  head,  and 
the  holy  angels  wIjo  kept  their  first  estate ;  that  sin,  the 
fearful  poison  of  the  old  serpent,  has  shed  its  virus  far 
and  wide  in  the  invisible  world  also.  The  great  king- 
dom of  Jehovah  is  divided,  the  oneness  of  the  universe, 
visible  and  invisible,  is  broken  up,  and  Satan  claims  a 
portion  and  a  kingdom  in  both. 

(2)  There  are  various  ranks  and  degrees  in  the  dia- 
bolical kingdom,  designated  by  the  terms  "  principal- 
ities," "  powers,"  "world-rulers"  and  "  spirits  of  wicked- 
ness." We  cannot  from  the  words  settle  the  exact 
hierarchy,  but  we  may  suppose  they  are  all  headed  up 
under  Satan,  the  prince  of  the  devils  or  demons.  They 
are  his  ministering  spirits,  as  the  holy  angels  are  God's 
(Heb.  i.  14) .  There  is  but  one  dlabolos — devil  or  Satan — 

54 


426  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

according  to  the  Scripture,  who  is  called,  also  the  tempter 
(Matt.  iv.  1-11 ;  Acts  v.  3;  1  Cor.  v.  7)  and  the  de- 
stroyer (Kev.  ix.  11),  and  many  other  names  and  titles 
which  show  forth  the  corruption  and  malignity  of  his 
nature.  He  stands,  therefore,  alone,  the  one  great  head 
and  chief  of  the  fallen  creation,  the  first  mover  of  evil 
in  the  universe,  and  on  whom  the  most  fearful  vengeance 
of  Jehovah  must  rest.  His  servants  and  ministers  are 
never  called  devils,  but  angels  of  the  devil  (Matt.  xxv. 
41 ;  Rev.  xii.  7,9;  ix.  14)  and  unclean  spirits  or  evil 
spirits  (Matt.  x.  1  ;  xii.  43,  45  ;  Luke  vii.  21 ;  xi.  24  ; 
Eph.  vi.  12).  The  most  common  appellation,  however, 
is  daimon,  or  daimonioji — viz.,  "  demon  "  (rendered  im- 
properly "devil"  in  our  translation) — which  is  found 
in  the  Gospels  nearly  fifty  times  and  in  the  other 
scriptures  very  frequently  (James  ii.  19 ;  Rev.  xviii. 
2;  Acts  xvii.  18;  1  Cor.  x.  20,  etc.).  These  de- 
mons, therefore,  with  their  head  and  ruler  the  devil, 
are  the  principalities,  powers  and  world-rulers  men- 
tioned in  our  text  against  whom  we  are  called  upon 
to  wrestle. 

(3)  It  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  mention  some  of 
the  qualities,  attributes  and  offices  of  these  enemies  of 
God  and  of  his  Christ.  They  are  fallen,  apostate  spirits 
or  angels  ( Jude  5,  6 ;  2  Pet.  ii.  4) ;  they  are  unclean, 
wicked  spirits  (Matt.  x.  1 ;  Luke  vii.  21)  ;  they — head 
and  members,  Satan  and  his  angels — are  the  authors  of 
death  (in  whatever  sense  you  take  Heb.  ii.  14),  the  in- 
flicters  of  sickness  and  disease,  and,  generally  speaking, 
the  oppressors  of  mankind  (Acts  x.  38)  ;  they  tempt 
into  apostasy  and  idolatry  by  lies  and  delusions,  by 
signs  and  wonders  of  falsehood  (2  Thess.  ii.  9 ;  John 
viii.  44)  ;  and  their  special  delight  seems  to  be  the  pos- 


CHAPTER    VI.     VERSES   10-24.  427 

session  of  the  souls  and  bodies  of  men.  This  is  the 
kingdom  of  darkness  into  which  sin  has  cast  us,  and  it 
Ls  from  this  the  divine  Redeemer  descended  from  heav- 
en to  deliver  us  (1  John  iii,  8 ;  Matt.  xiii.  38 ;  John 
viii.  44).  As  to  their  locality  or  dwelling-place,  we 
gather  the  following  facts  from  Scripture.  They  in- 
habit the  air,  the  aerial  heavens,  probably  that  they 
may  be  near  the  human  race,  the  object  of  their  malig- 
nant hatred.  Hence  Lazarus  was  borne  by  angels  (as 
through  an  enemy's  country)  into  Abraham's  bosom  ; 
hence  Satan  is  called  the  prince  of  the  aerial  hosts 
(Eph.  ii.  2) ;  so  that  the  space  between  the  earth  and 
the  starry  heavens  is  for  the  time  being  the  camj)  and 
the  headquarters  of  the  devil.  This  gives  force  and 
significancy  to  the  words  of  our  passage  (Eph.  vi.  12)  : 
"  Our  wrestle  is  against  principalities  and  powers, 
against  the  rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this  world, 
against  wicked  sj)irits"  (Greek,  neuter  plural  taken 
collectively ;  Die  Geiderschaft,  see  Winer,  sect.  34) 
"  in  the  aerial  regions."  (Comp.  Matt.  vi.  26 ;  Col. 
i.  4 ;  2  Thess.  i.  3.)  Hence  Satan  is  seen  falling  like 
lightning  from  heaven,  and  Michael  and  his  angels 
make  war  with  the  devil  and  his  angeL  in  heaven — 
viz.,  in  the  aerial  regions  (Luke  x.  18;  Rev.  xii.  7-10). 
They  are  represented  as  cast  down  into  the  abyss  of 
darkness,  the  bottomless  pit,  Tartarus  (2  Pet.  ii.  4), 
where  they  are  reserved  under  chains  of  darkness  unto 
the  judgment  of  the  great  day.  They  are  under  the 
command  and  control  of  God ;  so  that  the  range  of 
their  operations  and  the  length  of  their  chain  are 
owing  entirely  to  his  permission.  They  are  sometimes 
represented  as  inhabiting  desolate  ruins  and  the  waste 
j)laces  of  wildness  and  horror ;  hence  the  unclean  spirit, 


428  GEAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

when  cast  out  of  a  man,  walketh  through  desolate  places 
(Matt.  xii.  43)  and  findeth  no  rest  anywhere.  Hence 
Babylon  wasted  and  overthrown,  the  infernal  papacy 
leveled  to  rise  against  the  saints  of  God  no  more,  is  to 
become  the  habitation  of  devils  (demons)  (Rev.  xviii.  2), 
The  literal  Babylon  is  (according  to  Isa.  xiii.  21)  be- 
come tlie  habitation  of  sehirmi  (Septuagint,  "  demons  ;" 
De  Wette,  Waldteufel,  "  wood-demons  "),  who  hold  their 
hell-dance  in  the  ruins  thereof.  So  also  the  demons 
led  the  demoniacs  into  the  tombs  (Matt.  viii.  28)  as 
the  residence  they  best  liked,  for  the  air  of  corruption 
is  the  breath  of  life  to  a  devil.  The  future  and  final 
habitation  of  the  devils  and  of  the  damned  seems  to  be 
Gehenna  (Matt.  v.  22,  29;  x.  28;  xviii.  9;  xxiii.  IT), 
33;  Mark  ix.  43,  47;  Luke  xii.  5;  James  iii.  6),  the 
place  of  material  torment  after  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead,  called  in  the  Apocalypse  the  lake  of  fire  (xx.  14, 
15),  where  the  beast  anl  the  false  prophet  are  and 
shall  be  tormented  day  and  night  for  ever  and  ever. 
Let  this  brief  notice  of  Scripture  demonology  suffice 
for  the  present. 

VI.   The  Position  of  the  Believee. 

Wherefore  take  unto  you  the  whole  armor  of  God. 
that  ye  may  he  able  to  withstand  in  the  evil  day ;  and 
having  done  all,  to  stand  (ver.  13). 

The  evil  day  here  spoken  of  is  not  the  day  of  battle 
as  such — for  that,  through  the  help  of  God,  may  be  a 
glorious  day — it  is  the  day  of  anguish  and  persecution, 
when  the  devil  puts  forth  all  his  might  and  his  wiles 
to  lead  away  the  Church  from  the  Rock  on  which  she 
rests.  The  evil  day,  in  the  largest  sense,  corresponds 
with  the  present  age  of  the  world,  where  Satan  rules 


CHAPTER    VI.     VERSES   10-24.  429 

(Eph.  ii.  2,  Greek),  the  "Vast  time"  of  St.  John,  the 
time  of  Jacob's  trouble,  the  night  of  the  Church's  fast- 
ing in  the  absence  of  the  Bridegroom  (Matt.  ix.  15). 
But  our  translation  is  not  the  most  natural  one.  The 
meaning  seems  to  be,  "And,  having  vanquished  all  your 
enemies,  stand  forth  as  victors  on  the  field  of  battle  " 
[Das  Feld  behalten,  Luther  ;  Alles  uberwdltigend,  beste- 
het,  De  Wette),  for  that  is  the  meaning  of  the  military 
expression ;  azrjvat,  stare  tanquam  trium2:)hatores  (Zanch.) , 
"  stand  forth  as  victors,  as  the  warriors  of  Christ." 

This  is  the  believer's  position.  He  is  not  always 
engaged  in  the  act  of  fighting ;  the  flesh  is  crucified 
with  the  Lord  when  he  died,  the  world  is  conquered 
by  the  victory  of  faith,  the  old  man  is  buried  in  the 
waters  of  baptism.  Our  position  is  that  of  the  victor 
who  has  prostrated  his  enemies,  and  now  his  business 
is  to  keep  them  down.  Ye  are  dead,  and  your  life  is 
hid  with  Christ  in  God  ;  mortify,  therefore,  your  mem- 
bers which  are  upon  the  earth.  Your  enemies  of  every 
kind — the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil — are  conquered, 
overthrown  in  the  act  of  believing,  and  henceforth  your 
only  active  service  is  to  walk  over  the  field  and  keep 
them  from  again  rising  up.  This  is  the  victory  that 
overcometh  the  world,  even  your  faith. 

VII.  The  Girdle. 

Stand  therefore,  having  your  loins  girt  about  with 
truth,  and  having  on  the  breastplate  of  righteousness. 
(ver.  14). 

On  the  girdle  (the  Greek  zone,  the  Hebrew  ezor  and 
chagor),  see  2  Kings  i.  8  ;  Matt.  iii.  4  ;  x.  9  ;  Mark  i.  6  ; 
vi.  8;  Acts  xxi.  11 ;  Rev.  i.  13;  xv.  6. 

From  these  and  similar  passages  we  learn  that  the 


430  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

girdle  was  used  to  strengthen  and  support  the  body  ;  hf 
a  purse  to  carry  money  in  (Matt.  x.  9) ;  also  for  swords, 
daggers,  pistols,  knives,  keys,  inkhorns,  etc.  It  assists 
women  to  carry  their  children,  and  without  it  there 
could  be  no  speed  in  running,  no  alacrity  in  labor  or 
in  war.  The  girdle  is  therefore  first  mentioned,  as 
being  the  most  important ;  and  the  girdle  that  can 
sustain  us  is  the  truth  of  God.  It  is  of  cloth  or  of 
leather  or  of  velvet,  and  sometimes  it  is  studded  with 
the  richest  jewels.  Harless  errs  egregiously  in  think- 
ing the  girdle  is  used  only  for  ornament.  On  the  con- 
trary, it  is  the  most  useful  and  necessary  part  of  the 
dress.  It  binds  all  together,  and  is,  therefore,  well 
compared  to  truth,  which  is  the  cement  of  the  living 
Temple,  the  blood  in  the  body  and  the  strong  band 
that  unites  us  to  God  and  to  one  another.  It  strength- 
ens the  loins  and  braces  the  whole  frame  for  active 
field-service,  like  truth  in  the  inward  parts,  by  which 
the  Church  has  been  made  victorious  over  her  enemies 
since  the  day  of  Pentecost.  If  ye,  then,  are  deter- 
mined to  be  soldiers  of  the  cross,  put  on  the  girdle 
of  truth.  Truth  is  the  source  of  your  victory  and 
strength.  Jehovah  is  the  God  of  truth,  Jesus  is  the 
way,  the  truth  and  the  life,  and  tlie  saints  who  follow 
him  are  girt  about  with  truth. 

VIII.  The  Breastplate. 

Stand  therefore,  having  your  loins  girt  about  with 
truth,  and  having  on  the  breastplate  of  righteousness 
(ver.  14). 

But  what  is  the  breastplate — the  thorax,  cuirass, 
lorica  f  It  is  the  breastplate  of  righteousness,  which 
covers  the  heart  and  the  more  vital  parts  of  the  bo<ly 


CHAPTER  VI.    VERSES   10-24.  431 

(Homer,  Iliad  iii.  332).  In  1  Thess.  v.  8  it  is  said 
to  be  of  faith  and  love.  This  righteousness  of  Christ, 
which  is  imputed  to  the  believer  and  received  by  faith 
(for  this  is  referred  to  afterward  and  besides  the  right- 
eousness of  Christ),  is  rather  a  garment  for  the  whole 
body  than  a  defence  of  a  single  part.  Perhaps  the  mean- 
ing here  is  best  expressed  by  "justice,"  and  the  sense 
will  be  this :  The  war  in  which  you  are  engaged  is 
just  and  holy,  for  it  is  nothing  else  than  the  subjuga- 
tion of  the  world  to  the  Son  of  God ;  it  is  just  and 
right  that  every  creature  should  submit  to  his  sceptre, 
and  the  assurance  of  this  will  be  a  breastplate  to  shield 
you  from  the  thrusts  of  the  enemy.  "  Justice  "  is  en- 
graven on  our  breastplates,  and  we  will  never  lay  down 
our  arms  till  the  enemy  is  overthrown,  till  the  beast 
and  the  false  prophet  are  in  the  lake  of  fire  and  the 
devil  in  the  bottomless  pit  (Kev.  xix.  and  xx.).  Sin 
has  no  right  to  reign  in  us  or  over  us ;  Satan  can  estab- 
lish no  claim  over  the  purchased  possession ;  there  is 
no  absolute  right  in  hell  for  any  of  the  sons  of  men  ; 
and  therefore,  with  the  love  of  justice  in  our  hearts, 
we  go  forth  to  do  battle  against  ihe  principalities  and 
the  powers  of  darkness. 

IX.  The  Shoes. 

And  yovr  feet  shod  with  the  preparation  of  the  gos- 
pel of  peace  (ver.  15). 

The  shoes — sandalia,  "  sandals  "  (Mark  vi.  9  ;  see 
Acts  xii.  8) — are  said  to  be  the  ])reparation  of  the 
gospel  of  peace.  The  sandals  which  you  wear  are  the 
alacrity  of  gospel  love — not  the  costly  shoes  which  are 
worn  in  luxurious  houses,  but  the  traveling-sandals  by 
which  you  are  at  all  times  ready  to  go  forth  into  the 


432  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

highways  and  hedges  to  preach  the  gospel.  This  shows 
the  nature  of  the  war :  it  is  the  triumph  of  light  over 
darkness,  of  justice  over  tyranny,  of  the  kingdom  of 
righteousness  and  peace  over  the  king  and  the  king- 
dom of  all  the  enemies  of  God  (Isa.  v.  27).  These 
are  the  swift  messengers  that  are  to  bear  to  all  nations 
the  story  of  divine  mercy  and  love ;  the  martyr-heroes 
who  through  blood  and  persecution,  and  death  itself, 
show  forth  the  value  of  the  gospel  of  peace  and  the 
unconquerable  vigor  which  it  inspires ;  these  are  the 
warriors  of  the  cross,  girded  for  the  battle,  in  all  things 
fully  prepared,  who  without  hesitation  or  fear  shall  bear 
onward  the  standard  of  the  cross  into  all  nations  and 
languages,  singing  as  they  go, 

"  Waft,  waft,  ye  winds,  his  story, 
And  you,  ye  waters,  roll, 
Till,  like  a  sea  of  glory. 

It  spreads  from  pole  to  pole." 

Observe  well,  brother,  in  passing,  that  sweet  word, 
the  gospel  of  peace.  It  is  the  good-will  of  God  that 
you  should  have  peace — peace  in  Jesus,  peace  through 
the  blood  of  the  cross.  He  is  the  very  God  of  peace ; 
Jesus  is  the  Prince  of  peace,  and  his  blood  is  the  seal 
of  peace.  The  enmity  is  removed  in  the  cross ;  the 
breach  is  healed,  and  you  have  peace.  Oh,  sweet  and 
comforting  word  for  thee  and  me !  Love  conquers  all 
things — his  love  to  thee  and  me. — Then  this  God 
of  peace — the  great  and  mighty  God — thought  of 
me  ? — Yes,  yes,  brother,  of  thee  too ;  and  Jesus  left 
heaven  for  thee  and  me — yea,  died  on  the  cross  for 
thee  and  me. — I  can  hardly  believe  it.  I  sink  under 
the  burden    of    divine  love ;    my  very  faith  is   terri- 


CHAPTEE    VI.    VERSES   10-24.  433 

fied  at  the  immensity  of  the  eternal  mercy.  O  God, 
strengthen  and  enlarge  my  fainting  reason,  that  I  may 
c^omprehend  with  all  saints  the  dimensions  of  thy  love. 
Lord,  I  believe !     Help  thou  mine  unbelief. 

But  observe,  if  you  please,  some  of  the  uses  of  the 
shoes,  and  see  that  you  fully  realize  them.  The  way 
is  often  slippery,  and  the  sandals  enable  you  to  keep 
groimd  and  make  progress  on  your  homeward  journey. 
This  is  surely  the  intent  of  the  gosj)el.  It  gives  us 
firmness  of  purpose  to  do  the  will  of  God.  Here  we 
find  a  noble  preparation,  a  joyous  alacrity  in  following 
the  way  of  holiness  and  fighting  the  battles  of  the  faith. 
It  is  a  superhuman  power  let  down  into  our  world  to 
stay  the  rush  and  ruin  of  a  fallen  creation  and  turn 
the  soul  of  man  into  the  fellowship  of  God.  The  gos- 
})el  prepares  by  inward  peace  for  encountering  outward 
storms.  Be  the  way  rough  or  smooth,  thorny  or  stony, 
up  hill  or  down  hill,  all  is  alike  to  him  who  has  his 
feet  shod  with  the  j^rejDaration  of  the  gos2~)el  of  peace. 
His  feet  are  ready  for  all  roads  and  all  weathers ;  the 
breastplate,  like  Aaron's,  glitters  on  his  bosom  ;  and 
under  the  accoutrement  of  the  panoply  of  God  the 
heart  of  the  warrior  burns  with  unquenchable  fire  and 
invincible  courage.  He  is  ready  for  anything.  Life 
is  dear,  for  he  has  a  work  to  accomplish  for  his  Mas- 
ter;  death  is  dearer  still  (Phil.  i.  23),  for  it  brings 
him  to  his  Lord ;  poverty  is  sacred,  for  it  makes  him 
like  his  King,  who  had  not  where  to  lay  his  head ; 
riches  are  to  him  the  gift  of  God,  to  enable  him  to 
minister  to  the  necessities  of  the  saints ;  all  things 
are  his  and  minister  to  his  welfare  for  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  gospel  of  peace,  which  blesses  all  and 
sweetens  all. 

55 


434  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

"  Lasst  uns  nicht  ermatten 
Unter  seinem  Shatten 

Unter  seinem  Thron ! 
Wirket  well  ihr  lebet 
Betet  helft  und  gebet 
Flir  den  Menschensohn ! 

"Jesus  lebt! 
Das  Haupt  erliebt 
Briider  die  ihr  ihn  erkennet 
Seineu  Namen  nennet !"  * 

X.  The  Shield  of  Faith. 

Above  all,  taking  the  shield  of  faith,  whereby  ye  shall 
be  able  to  quench  all  the  fiery  darts  of  the  tvicked  (ver. 
16). 

Instead  of  above  all  Lachmann  reads  "  in  all,"  in 
omni  opere  ("in  every  operation") — a  reading  which 
Jerome  must  have  followed  :  in  omnibus  sumens  scutum 
fidei  ("  in  all  things  taking  the  shield  of  faith  ")  ;  but 
the  authorities  are  decidedly  in  ^ivor  of  the  common 
reading,  ahove  all. 

But  what,  then,  is  the  idea  attached  to  the  two  words, 
above  all,  in  the  simple  sentence,  "Above  all  things, 
take  the  shield  of  faith  "  ?  They  may  very  well  mean, 
In  additio7i  to  all  these,  take  the  shield  of  faith  (Meyer ) , 
and  in  this  sense  Bloomfield  and  others  take  them ;  but 

*  "  Should  the  way  be  dreary, 
Let  us  never  weary : 

Jesus  reigns  above. 
Work  while  ye  are  living, 
Praying,  helping,  giving. 

For  Him  whose  name  is  love. 

"  .Jesus  liveth,  who  was  dead ; 
Lift,  lift  up  your  head  I 
Ye  who  knew  him,  sons  of  God, 
Spread  his  glorious  name  abroad !" 


CHAPTEE  VI.    VERSES  10-24.  435 

surely  this  is  unnatural,  as  there  are  others  to  be  as- 
sumed afterward.  Others  take  above  or  upon  in  the 
sense  of  "  over,"  and  then  yoij  have  this  idea :  Over 
all  these  various  pieces  take  the  shield  of  faith — not, 
indeed,  the  aspis,  or  serpent-formed,  but  the  thureos,  or 
broad,  door-shaped,  shield,  which  will  hide  and  defend 
the  whole  bod}^  But  this  gives  a  poor,  weak,  material 
signification  and  could  hardly  be  the  mind  of  the  apos- 
tle, who  glories  in  grand  and  spiritual  sentiments.  Far 
nobler  to  say  with  Luther  {vor  alien  Dingen)  and 
others,  Above  all  things,  more  necessary  than  all,  it 
is  that  ye  take  the  shield  of  faith ;  and  the  reason  is 
given :  That  ye  may  "  be  able  to  quench  all  the  fiery 
darts  of  the  wicked"  (one,  that  is  the  devil).  This 
gives  faith  the  importance  which  it  had  in  the  mind 
of  the  apostle,  as  well  as  strength  and  consistency  to 
the  passage.  This  is  not  the  faith  in  miracles,  nor 
even  the  faith  which  works  miracles,  but  the  living- 
faith  in  the  Redeemer  without  wdiich  it  is  impossible 
to  please  God.  It  is  the  justifying  faith  {fides  salvifica) 
by  which  we  receive  Jesus  Christ  and  rest  upon  him 
as  he  is  offered  to  us  in  the  gospel  (John  i.  12).  It  is 
not  the  reception  of  certain  opinions  into  the  mind,  be 
they  orthodox  or  otherwise,  but  a  holy,  confidential 
reliance  on  the  power,  promises  and  love  of  God  as 
revealed  to  mankind  in  the  person  and  the  work  of 
Christ.  It  is  a  holy,  joyous  conviction  and  assurance 
of  Jehovah's  love,  which  the  Spirit  of  God  works  in 
the  heart  sometimes  by  the  promises  and  sometimes  by 
the  preaching  of  the  word,  sometimes  by  the  events  of 
Providence  and  sometimes  with  all  or  without  any  of 
these,  according  to  his  own  good  pleasure. 

This  feith  is  based  upon  the  faithfulness  of  God,  and 


436  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

roots  itself  most  deeply  in  tlie  person  and  the  work  of 
C^hrist.  It  is  in  a  certain  sense  supernatural,  being  the 
ojDeration  of  God  and  leading  the  soul  into  supernatural 
and  immortal  hopes.  It  is  a  new  organ  or  sense  by 
which  the  soul  can  return  to  the  way  of  holiness  and 
hold  communion  with  her  God  (Rom.  v.  2) — an  ear 
that  can  hear  the  music  of  the  skies  ;  an  eye  that  can 
see  in  the  cross  more  than  the  worth  of  worlds ;  a 
mouth  to  feed  pleasantly  on  the  spiritual  manna ;  a 
hand  ready  to  receive  gratis  from  the  Lord  all  the 
blessings  of  time  and  eternity.  It  is  the  great,  if  not 
the  only,  bond  of  union  between  man  and  his  Maker, 
which  in  a  manner  worthy  of  God  and  ennobling  to 
man  opens  up  a  way  through  the  flaming  cherubim  to 
tlie  tree  of  life ;  which,  uniting  us  with  our  Father  and 
all  his  family — with  the  8on  of  God  the  Redeemer 
and  the  Holy  Ghost  the  Quickener — gives  to  our  sor- 
rowful condition  the  strength,  wisdom  and  beauty  of 
God ;  which,  opening  up  in  all  directions  channels 
between  the  Church  and  her  Head,  brings  her  into 
the  possession  of  his  manifold  fullness,  out  of  which 
she  receives  now,  according  to  the  measure  of  faith, 
the  requisite  outfit  for  her  pilgrimage — the  manna,  the 
pillar,  the  water  from  the  rock — and  out  of  which  she 
shall  never  cease  to  draw  fresh  supplies  while  eternally 
approaching  the  Ineffable,  though  still  at  infinite  dis- 
tances she  continues  her  starry  way  through  the  ages 
of  eternity. 

This  faith  works  by  love  and  purifies  the  heart.  It 
is  a  saving,  holy,  sanctifying,  sin-conquering,  Christ- 
appropriating  faith.  It  staggers  not  at  difficulties, 
trembles  not  before  enemies,  sinks  not  in  the  floods  of 
many  waters,  fears  not  to  confront  tyrants,  Antichrists 


CHAPTER  VI.    VERSES   10-24.  437 

and  devils.  It  removes  all  mountains,  brings  distant 
events  near,  realizes  while  in  the  flesh  the  promises  of 
future  glory,  joyfully  makes  acquaintance  with  bonds, 
prisons,  persecutions,  tortures  and  death  itself  for  the 
Redeemer's  sake.  It  seeks  and  finds  him  ever  the 
Lamb  of  God  in  all  things ;  so  that  the  rock  and  the 
river,  the  trees  of  the  woods  and  the  fruitful  fields,  the 
stars  of  the  night,  the  sun  in  the  mid-heaven  above 
and  the  light  in  the  circumambient  air  all,  testify  of 
him  and  tell  us  the  story  of  his  love.  This  faith  kills 
us  and  makes  us  alive  to  God,  humbles  us  to  the  dust 
and  exalts  us  to  the  skies,  overwhelms  us  with  afflic- 
tions and  sustains  us  with  abundant  consolations.  It 
suits  all  ages,  generations  and  conditions  of  mankind ; 
for  by  it  the  young  and  the  old,  the  ignorant  and  the 
learned,  the  civilized  nations  and  the  semi-savage  bar- 
barians, have  equal  liberty  of  access  to  God,  may 
equally  triumph  over  the  impediments  and  restric- 
tions of  nature  and  rejoice  in  the  prospect  and  assur- 
ance of  glory. 

Take  the  shield  of  faith,  brother ;  it  was  made  for 
thee.  It  fits  thy  breast.  It  is  needed  against  the  fiery 
darts.  It  is  fireproof,  tried  and  found  good  by  proph- 
ets, apostles  and  the  glorious  army  of  the  martyrs. 
The  shield  of  Achilles,  of  which  Homer  speaks  so 
much,*  is  not  to  be  compared  with  the  shield  of  the 
Christian  warrior,  which,  as  to  its  material,  is  not  made 
of  wood  or  of  bull-hides  or  of  iron,  but  of  faith,  the 
most  ethereal,  elastic  substance  known  on  earth,  and 
able"  to  quench,  not  the  burning,  combustible  maleoli 
of  the  ancients  [Domus  plena  maleorum  ad  urhis  incendia 
comparatorum^,  Cicero  pro  Mill.  24),  which  De  Wette 

*  r  347-349,  356,  357,  E  300,  H  250,  251,  A  434,  N  160,  264,  etc. 


438  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

thinks  were  known  to  the  Hebrews  also  (Ps.  x.  13),  or 
tlie  poisoned  arrows  which  drink  up  the  spirit  ( Ungere 
tela  manu,  ferrumque  armare  veneno),  but  the  fiery 
darts  of  Satan,  which  we  may  say,  with  the  apostle 
James,  are  set  on  fire  of  hell  (James  iii.  6). 

We  observe  here,  also,  the  union  between  the  will  of 
God  and  that  of  the  creature  in  the  salvation  of  the 
soul.  The  shield,  like  the  panoply,  is  given  by  God, 
))ut  we  are  required  to  hold  it  up;  the  shoes,  the  girdle 
and  the  whole  armor  are  provided  by  the  King,  but  we 
are  required  to  put  them  on  and  prove  them.  This 
shows  the  harmony  between  the  human  responsibility 
and  the  divine  sovereignty :  he  gives  faith,  but  ive  be- 
lieve;  he  provides  the  armor,  but  we  must  fight  the 
battle;  Jesus  is  ascended  to  give  repentance,  yet  re- 
pentance is  our  own  act,  and  our  tears  of  sorrow  are 
sincerely  shed ;  the  Holy  Sj^irit  works  in  us  both  to 
will  and  to  do  of  his  own  good  pleasure,  yet  for  that 
very  work  we  are  rewarded  with  heaven.  One  will  must 
pervade  the  creation — even  the  will  of  God ;  one  life 
must  circulate  in  the  body,  one  sap  in  the  vine ;  one 
cement  must  bind  together  the  temple  of  God ;  one 
spirit — even  the  spirit  of  faith — must  pervade  all  the 
armies  of  the  Captain  of  salvation. 

XL    The  Helmet. 

And  take  the  helmet  of  salvation  (ver.  17). 

This  helmet  of  salvation  is  (in  1  Thess.  v.  8)  the 
hope  of  salvation,  and  in  this  sense  it  is  to  be  taken 
here.  The  soterion  ("  salvation  ")  is  a  neuter  and  rarely 
used  in  Scripture  (Luke  ii.  30 ;  iii.  6  ;  Acts  xxyiii.  28 ; 
Eph.  vi.  17),  while  the  feminine  form,  soteria,  is  used 
very  often.     It  is  certainly  remarkable  that,  while  Paul 


CHAPTEK    VI.    VERSES   10-24.  439 

constantly  uses  the  latter,  he  never  uses  the  former  save 
in  this  one  instance,  and  De  Wette  argues  from  this 
that  Paul  was  not  the  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Ephesians ;  but  surely  an  author  may  vary  his  words 
as  he  pleases  ? 

But  what  is  this  helmet?  It  is  the  Jiope  of  salvation. 
"  Hope  "  refers  to  and  embraces  the  future,  as  "  mem- 
ory "  does  the  past ;  and  these  two  faculties  place  us, 
Janus-like,  looking  two  ways — standing,  as  it  were,  on 
the  bridge  of  time  between  the  eternities.  The  food  of 
memory  is  history,  on  which  it  fastens,  devouring  all 
the  treasures  of  God's  past  dealings  with  mankind — his 
providence  and  his  grace,  the  wonders  of  his  p^wer  and 
the  still  greater  wonders  of  his  love.  The  proper  food 
of  hope  is  prophecy  and  promise,  by  which  the  golden 
doors  of  futurity  are  partially  opened;  and  those  to 
whom  God  has  given  eyes  to  see  may  get  eagle-glances 
into  the  glories  of  eternity — foretastes  of  the  blessedness 
which  God  has  prepared  for  the  righteous.  Take  away 
the  promises  and  the  prophecies  of  Scripture — the  suc- 
cors of  grace  in  death  and  the  glories  beyond  the  grave, 
the  overthrow  of  Antichrist  and  the  coming  of  the  Lord 
— and  every  man,  being  left  without  guidance,  will  be- 
come his  own  prophet  and  shape  out  a  future  for  him- 
self, as  the  heathen  did,  for  till  we  cease  to  be  human 
we  must  anticipate  and  provide  for  the  future.  Nor 
can  hope  ever  be  extinguished  while  memory  remains 
a  faculty  of  the  mind :  we  cannot  cease  to  hope,  even 
as  we  cannot  cease  to  remember ;  and  to  supply  both 
these  sides  of  our  being  with  clothing  and  nutriment 
the  divine  Wisdom  has  given  us  history  and  prophecy, 
by  which  the  two  eternities  which  meet  in  us — the  past 
and  the  future,  the  work  done  and  the  work  to  be  done. 


440  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

the  cross  of  Christ  and  the  crown  of  glory — are  borne 
in  and  fill  the  soul  with  all  their  tranquillizing  and 
sanctifying  solemnities. 

Memory  hinges  around  the  bleeding  cross.  Oh  how 
lovingly,  mournfully,  joyfully,  does  it  linger  there, 
finding  sweet  every  object  and  dear  every  spot  which 
reminds  us  of  Him  !  With  burning  hearts  we  survey 
the  Holy  City,  the  type  of  the  heavenly ;  the  brook 
Kedron,  which  he  so  often  passed  over  ;  the  old  olive 
trees  of  Gethsemane,  where  he  drank  for  us  the  bitter 
cup  of  anguish ;  the  temple-area,  where  he  so  often 
taught  the  people ;  the  tomb  where  he  is  supposed  to 
have  lain ;  and  the  Mount  of  Olives,  from  which,  in 
blessing  his  disciples,  he  ascended  into  heaven — on 
which,  also,  his  feet  shall  once  mure  stand  when  he 
comes  again  as  the  Judge  and  the  Avenger.  Oh  how 
dear — how  very  dear — to  memory  are  these  scenes  of 
more  than  mortal  love  and  anguish  !  Indeed,  the  poor 
weak  heart  faints  and  breaks  under  the  pressure  of  such 
divine  mercy  and  goodness.  Here  he  lived,  labored 
and  died  for  me.  He !  Oh,  it  is  Jesus,  and  none  but 
he,  the  Son  of  the  Highest,  and  yet  the  Virgin's  Son ! 
God  manifest  in  the  flesh !  God  over  all,  blessed  for 
ever  !  He,  then,  thought  of  me — nay,  came  to  see  me. 
From  the  throne  of  the  Omnipotent,  from  the  bosom 
of  the  Father  almighty,  he  came  hei^e  to  seek  and  to 
save  me.  Oh,  is  this  all  true  ?  Is  it  possible  that  such 
ocean-fullness  of  love  should  flow  in  around  me,  a  poor 
wretched,  sinful,  dying  worm  ?  It  is  indeed ;  it  is  all 
true ;  and  now  I  know  what  is  worth  all  knowledge  be- 
sides— that  God  is  Love.  Such  is  the  field  from.whicli 
memory  gathers  her  treasures. 

Nor  is  liope  less  important  or  less  active.     I  believe. 


CHAPTER  VI.     VERSES  10-24.  441 

indeed,  it  is  more  active  and  embraces  a  still  wider 
range  of  vision,  in  which,  also,  the  objects  are  both 
more  numerous  and  more  gorgeous.  In  both  one  con- 
spicuous object  occupies  the  foreground,  even  the  ador- 
able person  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  but  oh  how  dif- 
ferent does  he  appear  to  the  eye  of  hope !  Not  any 
more  the  sin-bearing  Lamb  of  Calvary,  but  the  life- 
giving  Head  of  the  Creation ;  not  crowned  with  thorns 
and  arrayed  in  a  mock  purple  robe,  but  invested  with 
the  splendor  and  the  majesty  of  God ;  not  the  God- 
Man  any  longer,  but  the  Man-God  for  evermore ;  not 
the  Servant,  but  the  Master ;  not  the  Burden-Bearer  of 
creation,  but  the  Sceptre-Bearer  whose  kingdom  is 
over  all  and  shall  have  no  end. 

"  Lo !  he  comes,  in  clouds  descending, 

Once  for  favored  sinners  slain  ; 

Thousand,  thousand  saints  attending 

Swell  the  triumph  of  his  train  : 

Jesus  comes  on  earth  to  reign." 

These  are  the  two  poles  around  which  revolve  mem- 
ory and  hope — the  coming  of  Christ  in  the  flesh,  and 
his  coming  in  glory  ;  and  they  both  centre,  like  every- 
thing great  and  good  and  holy,  in  the  person  of  the 
Mediator,  in  whom  alone,  as  creation's  Head  and  Unit, 
the  past,  the  present  and  the  future,  all  depths  of  suf- 
fering love  and  mercy  as  well  as  all  purj^oses  of  blessed- 
ness and  glory,  are  summed  up  and  harmonized.  Hence 
elpis  ("  hope  ")  occupies  such  a  conspicuous  place  in  the 
word  of  God.  It  occurs  in  the  New  Testament  more 
than  fifty  times,  and  is  often,  as  in  our  text,  connected 
with  salvation.  Thus  we  are  saved  by  hope  (E-om.  viii. 
*^4),  which  is  explained  to  be  the  adoption — to  wit,  the 
redemption — of  the  body ;  and  this  great  act  of  divine 

56 


442  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

power  is  called  the  hope  of  Israel,  for  which  Paul  joy- 
fully suffered  bonds  (Acts  xxviii.  20).  Hope  is  in 
every  way  connected  with  the  advent  of  Christ  as  the 
event  to  which  the  eye  of  the  bride  should  ever  be 
directed,  for  which  we  are  to  long  and  watch  and  wait 
patiently  with  our  loins  girded  and  our  lamps  burning, 
that  we  may  be  counted  worthy  to  escape  the  things 
that  are  coming  on  the  earth  and  to  stand  before  the 
Son  of  man  (Luke  xxi.  36).  His  coming  in  glory  is 
called  the  blessed  hope  (Tit.  ii.  13),  inasmuch  as  it  con- 
tains in  it  all  the  elements  which  constitute  the  future 
blessedness  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  This  is  the  hel- 
met of  salvation  which  we  are  expected  to  take  for  the 
battles  of  the  faith,  and  its  efficacy  has  been  j^roved  in 
many  a  well-fought  field. 

Read  the  history  of  any  j^articular  Church,  as  the 
Church  of  Scotland,  or  the  history  of  the  Church 
universal,  and  you  will  find  that  in  times  of  perse- 
cution and  trial  the  believer  puts  on  this  helmet. 
"  Come,  Lord  Jesus !"  is  the  cry  of  the  martyr-church, 
and  our  ceasing  to  cry  "  Come !"  shows  that  the  bride 
is  becoming  the  harlot  (Prov.  vii.  6-22)  as  she  seeks 
to  make  this  her  rest.  It  is  the  struggling  soul  full  of 
the  hope  of  salvation  that  cries, 

"  0  Jesu,  meine  Wonne, 

Komm  bald  und  mach  dich  aufi 
Geh'  auf  du  Lebensonne 
Und  fdrdere  deinen  Lauf. 

"  O  Jesu,  inach  ein  Ende 

Und  fiihr'  uns  aus  dem  Streit; 
Wir  heben  Haupt  und  Hande 
Nach  der  Erlosungszeit."  * 

*  "  O  Jesus,  my  ecstatic  joy, 
Come  quickly  !  rise  ! 


CHAPTER    VI.    VERSES   10-24.  443 

Lift  up  your  heads,  ye  weary  and  licavy-laden,  ye 
2)ersecuted  for  righteousness'  sake,  for  the  Avenger 
comes  quickly  and  your  redemption  draweth  nigh. 
Are  ye  enduring  a  great  fight  of  afflictions,  like  the 
Hebrews  (Heb.  xi.  32-38)  ?  Then  put  on  this  helmet 
of  salvation,  as  they  did,  and  patiently  do  the  will  of 
the  Lord  that  you  may  receive  the  promise :  "  For  yet 
a  little  while,  and  He  that  shall  come  will  come,  and 
will  not  tarry."  Are  ye  mourning  over  departed 
friends  whom  silently  and  with  tears  ye  have  laid  in 
the  narrow  house  ?  Then  put  on  this  helmet  and  say 
with  the  persecuted  Thessalonians,  "  For  if  we  believe 
that  Jesus  died  and  rose  again,  even  so  them  also  which 
sleep  in  Jesus  will  God  bring  with  him  "  (1  Thess.  iv. 
14).  Are  ye  worldly,  money-loving  men  to  whom  this 
world  is  all  in  all?  Ye  should  put  on  this  helmet 
quickly,  for  the  Lord  is  coming  in  flaming  fire,  and 
all  that  ye  at  present  delight  in  shall  be  burnt  up. 
Ye  have  no  hope  of  salvation ;  his  coming  shall  bring 
you  only  anguish  and  despair  as  ye  hear  the  words, 
"  Depart,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire,  prepared  for 
the  devil  and  his  angels." 

"  Where,  where  for  safety  shall  the  gailty  flee, 
When  consteruation  turns  the  good  man  pale  ?" 

"  Quid  sum  miser  tunc  dicturus ! 
Quem  patronum  rogaturus 
Cun  nee  Justus  sit  securus? 

Ascend,  thou  life-giving  Sun, 
And  advance  in  thy  course. 

"  O  Jesus,  make  an  end  of  our  sorrows, 
Lead  us  out  of  the  conflict! 
We  lift  up  head  and  hand 
For  the  time  of  redemption." 


444  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 


'Rex  tremeadse  majestatis! 
Qui  salvandos  salvas  gratis, 
Salva  me,  fons  pietatis."" " 


"  * 


But  for  the  faithful,  believing  people  of  God  the 
o;lorious  advent  is  the  helmet  which  crowns  and  com- 
pletes  the  whole  armor  of  God.  Then  we  shall  see 
Him  whom  unseen  we  loved,  and  we  shall  be  with  him 
and  like  him  in  his  glory,  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he 
is.  We  shall  mingle  with  the  saints  and  the  angels 
of  God,  with  the  prophets,  apostles  and  martyrs  of 
Jesus,  around  the  throne,  where  sin  and  separation 
and  pain  and  death  shall  trouble  our  blessedness  no 
more.  This  is  the  Father's  house,  the  New  Jerusa- 
lem, of  which  David  Dixon  has  sung  so  sweetly  in 
his  noble  canticle  beginning — 

"  O  mother  dear,  Jerusalem, 
When  shall  I  come  to  thee? 
When  shall  my  sorrows  have  an  end? 
Thy  joys  when  shall  I  see? 

"  O  happy  labor  of  God's  saints ! 
O  sweet  and  pleasant  soil  I 
In  thee  no  sorrow  can  be  found, 
No  grief  nor  care  nor  toil." 

Oh,  surely  this  is  the  hope  of  salvation,  the  house 
and  city  of  our  God,  where  the  Kedeemer  and  the 
redeemed  shall  enjoy  their  rest  and  their  glory  together 
in  the  beauty  and  glory  of  the  heavenly  kingdom. 

*"What  excuse  shall  I,  a  wretched  sinner,  make? 
What  patron  shall  I  then  flee  to. 
When  even  the  righteous  shall  scarcely  be  saved? 

"  King  of  tremendous  majesty. 
Who  savest  gratis  those  that  are  to  be  saved, 
Save  me,  O  thou  Fountain  of  piety!" 


CHAPTER    VI.     VERSES  10-24.  445 

"  Hinc  perenne  tenent  esse 
Nam  iransire  transiit ; 
Inde  virent,  vigent,  florent 

Corruptela  corruit, 
Immortalitatis  vigor 
Mortis  jus  absorbuit."  * 

Oh  yes,  my  brother,  when  he  comes  all  that  the  fond 
heart  can  desire  shall  come  with  him,  and  hence  the  cry 
of  the  whole  groaning  creation  (Rom.  viii.  22)  and  the 
cry  of  the  redeemed  Bride  remain  <  ne  and  the  same 
from  the  beginning :  "  Come,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly. 
Amen.     Even  so,  come.  Lord  Jesus." 

XII.  The  Sword  of  the  Spirit. 

A7id  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  word  of 
God  (ver.  17). 

Here,  it  is  manifest,  the  genitive  is  quite  different 
from  the  foregoing  examples — breastplate  of  righteous- 
ness, shield  of  faith  Miid  helmet  of  salvation,  in  which 
righteousness  is  the  breastplate,  faith  the  shield  and 
salvation  the  helmet ;  but  the  sword  of  the  Spirit 
cannot  mean  that  the  Spirit  is  the  sword,  else  there 
would  not  have  been  added  the  phrase  "  which  is  the 
word  of  God."  The  sword  of  the  Spirit  means  the 
sword  which  the  Spirit  gives,  a  very  common  use  of 
the  genitive  and  the  same  as  in  verse  11 — the  panoply 
w^hich  God  furnishes  to  the  warrior.  The  masculine 
pronoun  stands  for  the  feminine  by  what  grammarians 
call  "  attraction  "  (see  examples  :  Mark  xv.  16  ;  1  Tim. 

*  "  Henceforth  they  shall  possess  a  perennial  existence, 
For  all  that  ia  transient  has  passed  away; 
Henceforth  they  shall  flourish  in  ever-opening  beauty ; 
All  that  is  corruptible  has  sunk  into  corruption: 
The  vigor  of  immortality 
Has  absorbed  the  law  of  death." 


446  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

iii.  16;  1  John  ii.  26),  and  can  refer  only  to  sword 
Olsliaiisen's  attempts  to  refer  it  to  Spirit,  making  the 
sword  to  be  the  Spirit  and  the  Spirit  the  word,  are 
worse  than  trifling.  Rema  never  signifies  "  the  Spirit 
of  God,"  but  "■  the  word  of  God  " — the  word  spoken, 
as  distinguished  from  the  Logos,  the  personal  Word, 
who  was  in  the  beginning  with  God  and  was  God, 
and  became  flesh  for  our  redemption.  Rema  ("  word  ") 
means  the  gospel,  the  evangelical  doctrine  (Acts  v.  20), 
the  word  of  faith  (Rom.  x.  8).  There  is  no  reason 
against,  but  every  reason  for,  taking  it  here  in  its 
widest  sense  as  referring  to  the  whole  Scripture.  The 
Bible  is  tlie  sword  of  the  Spirit ;  it  is  inspired  by  him, 
and  is  "  profitable  for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correc- 
tion, for  instruction  in  righteousness,  that  the  man  of 
God  may  be  perfect,  thoroughly  furnished  unto  all 
good  works  "  (2  Tim.  iii.  16). 

This  remarkable  name  of  the  Bible,  "  sword  of  the 
Spirit,"  teaches  us  much  of  the  way  and  wisdom  of  God 
in  his  dealings  with  the  children  of  men.  What  gave 
the  Jews  their  valor,  their  comj^act  unity,  their  won- 
derful tenacity  and  fortitude  as  God's  witnesses  both 
in  grace  and  in  apostasy?  The  sword  of  the  Spirit 
alone.  What  was  it  in  the  hand  of  the  apostolic 
Church  which  overturned  the  temples  of  paganism, 
smote  to  the  dust  the  gorgeous  systems  of  supersti- 
tion consecrated  by  time  and  cemented  by  wealth,  in- 
terest and  victory,  and  finally  j^lanted  the  cross  on  the 
palace  of  the  Caesars  ?  Nothing  but  the  sword  of  tlie 
Spirit,  which  is  the  word  of  God. 

See  these  men!  They  seem  poor  and  despised  and 
forsaken,  but  they  are  the  heroes  of  the  faith  and  tlie 
chosen  instruments  of  God.     They  are  persecuted,  and 


CHAPTER    VI.    VERSES   10-24.  447 

can  find  no  resting-place  on  earth ;  tlieir  heads  fall  in 
the  market-jDlace,  and  no  man  regards  it;  the  lions 
and  the  wild  beasts  are  let  loose  upon  them  in  the 
theatres  of  the  Koman  empire ;  they  are  burned,  they 
are  sawn  asunder,  they  are  crucified  like  their  Master 
and  tormented  with  all  kinds  of  tortures ;  yet  they 
yield  not  in  the  fiery  trial,  they  are  not  submerged  in 
the  surging  waters,  but,  rising  above  pain  and  torment 
and  death,  they  sow,  in  their  tears  and  in  their  blood, 
the  seeds  of  righteousness,  which  spring  up  into  a 
harvest  of  saints  and  servants  of  God.  This  is  the 
glorious  army  of  the  martyrs.  What  sustained  them  ? 
The  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  word  of  God. 

The  sword  which  smote  the  pagan  in  his  strongest 
entrenchments,  which  in  the  hands  of  Luther  and  the 
Reformers  pierced  to  his  centre  the  Antichrist  of  Rome 
and  won  for  the  suffering  saints  and  the  servants  of 
God  generally  the  liberty  to  worship  God, — this  is  the 
sword  which  the  Spirit  is  now  sending  into  all  nations 
to  cut  the  cords  which  bind  the  heathen  to  their  idols, 
the  f)apists  to  their  images,  the  Turks  to  their  fanati- 
cism and  the  Jews  to  their  imj^enitency  and  unbelief. 
It  is  circulating  among  the  hundred  millions  of  British 
India,  and  the  Dead  Sea  of  China  itself  is  now  open- 
ing to  the  word  of  life ;  so  that  this  fiery  sword,  the 
symbol  of  gospel  warfare,  is  making  the  circuit  of  the 
habitable  globe.  Perish  the  attempt  to  stay  the  flam- 
ing sword  in  its  course !  Broken  be  the  arm,  papal 
or  infidel,  which  would  dare  to  lay  restrictions  on  the 
word  of  God  and  deprive  the  perishing  nations  of 
their  blood-purchased  rights ! 

In  the  mean  time,  we  may  rest  assured  that  the  pur- 
poses of  God  in  giving  it  shall  be  accomplished,  what- 


448  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

ever  may  be  the  opposition  of  men  and  of  devils.  In 
vain  shall  superstitious  kings  and  tlieir  lackeys  the 
|>opes  seek  to  impede  the  progress  of  its  saving  truths. 
It  is  a  sharp  two-edged  sword,  cutting  into  the  joints 
and  marrow  with  the  earnestness  of  truth,  and  there- 
fore the  lovers  of  darkness  cannot  bear  it.  It  lays 
open  our  wounds  as  deej^ly  as  the  malady  reaches,  and 
those  who  have  rejected  the  Balm  of  Gilead  do  not 
like  the  torture  of  the  necessary  surgery.  Others  are 
of  a  different  opinion,  and  esteem  the  word  of  God 
above  all  price.  They  find  it  just  what  they  need — a 
height  for  every  hollow,  a  balm  for  every  wound,  n 
sympathy  for  every  sorrow  in  the  poor  sin-smitteu 
heart  of  man.  Its  pages  are  varied  and  lovely  as  is 
the  fairest  landscape,  but  they  always  breathe  of  heav- 
en ;  sprinkled  with  its  thousand  promises  brighter  than 
the  stars,  it  draws  out  the  deeper  affections  of  the  soul 
and  centres  them  in  the  Sun  of  righteousness.  Jesus 
in  his  temptation  in  the  wilderness  used  this  sword 
against  the  subtlety  of  the  tempter,  and  so  should  the 
saints  ever  do,  as  it  is  the  weapon  which  God  has  given 
in  this  our  Christian  warfare.  It  is  the  best  defence 
of  our  families  and  our  homes,  of  the  faithfulness  of 
our  sons  and  the  honor  of  our  wives  and  daughters. 
It  consecrates  every  circle  of  society  where  its  influ- 
ence is  cherished,  and  brings  forth  from  the  hol- 
lowness  and  heartlessness,  from  the  hypocrisies  and 
formalities,  of  life  something  of  the  fragrance  and 
verdure,  the  truth,  fullness  and  beauty,  of  heaven.  It 
consecrates  everything,  everywhere  and  always,  to  the 
service  of  God. 


CHAPTER    VI.    VERSES   10-24.  449 

XIII.   The  Way  to  Use  the  Armor. 

Praying  always  with  all  prayer  and  supplication  in 
the  Spirit,  and  watching  thereunto  with  all  perseverance 
and  supplication  for  all  saints  (ver.  18). 

I  do  not  connect  this  verse  with  the  receiving  the 
weapons,  but  with  the  right  use  of  them ;  nor  can  I 
admit  that  the  verse  contains  a  tautology,  much  less  a 
drawling  tautology,  as  De  Wette  asserts.  The  words 
prayer  and  supplication  are  connected  in  Phil.  iv.  6, 
and  are  by  no  means  of  the  same  signification.  The 
former  is  the  proper  word  to  express  our  petitions  to 
the  supreme  Being,  and  the  latter  may  be  addressed  to 
both  God  and  man ;  united,  they  show  the  fullness  and 
the  fervency  with  which  we  ought  to  express  our  wants 
and  desires  to  God.  The  points  to  be  attended  to  in 
this  verse  are  the  following: 

(1)  We  ought  to  pray  always — that  is,  at  all  proper 
times  and  places ;  we  ought  to  be  always  in  the  spirit 
of  prayer  (see  1  Thess.  v.  17;  Luke  xi.  1;  xxi.  36; 
Kom.  xii.  12;  Col.  iv.  2;  1  Pet.  iv.  7).  This  steadies 
the  faculties  of  the  mind  and  makes  us  ready  and  will- 
ing, through  God's  assistance,  to  fulfill  the  divine  will 
with  reverence  and  godly  fear.  In  the  spirit  of  prayer 
and  fellowship  nothing  can  take  us  by  surprise,  nothing 
throw  us  off  our  guard,  inasmuch  as  we  feel  ourselves 
surrounded  by  the  love  and  the  protection  of  God.  Life 
and  death,  sorrows  and  troubles,  are  mere  accidents 
which  produce  no  essential  change  in  our  relations  to 
God,  and  our  only  effort  is  "  that,  whether  present  or 
absent,  we  may  be  accepted  of  him"   (2  Cor.' v.  9). 

(2)  We  ought  to  fight  the  good  fight  of  faith  with  all 
prayer — that  is,  with  all  kinds  of  prayer  and  supplica- 

57 


450  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

tion.  (Comp.  2  Cor.  ii.  4 ;  2  Cliron.  vi.  19,  in  the 
Septuagint.  Like  tlie  English,  hoth'  the  Hebrew  and 
the  Greek  have  similar  expressions ;  the  distinction  is 
not  always  kept  up.)  These  kinds  may  be  such  as 
private  prayer,  family  prayer,  social  prayer,  public 
prayer  in  the  assemblies  of  the  saints,  vocal  prayer 
for  ourselves  and  for  others,  and  mental  silent  prayer 
at  all  times  and  in  all  places.  The  object  is  to  keep 
as  unbroken  as  possible  our  conscious  communion  with 
God.  When  one  way  of  access  is  shut  up  another  way 
is  opened,  and  our  desire  should  be  to  avail  ourselves 
of  them  all. 

(3)  Our  prayers  and  our  supj^lications  should  be  in 
the  Spirit — ^that  is,  in  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
who  is  the  inspirer  and  author  of  prayer  (Rom.  viii. 
15-26;  Gal.  iv.  6).  Some  render  it  "in  spirit" — viz., 
heartily,  earnestly  ;  but  tliis  is  weakening  the  passage 
and  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  mind  and  sentiment 
of  the  apostle  (Rom.  viii.).  We  are  therefore  to  plead 
the  promised  assistance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  that  he 
may  make  our  approaches  to  God  holy  and  acceptable. 
Through  the  Son  as  Mediator,  by  or  in  the  Spirit  and 
to  the  Father  is  the  appointed  method  of  access  to  God 
(Eph.  ii.  18).  The  prayer  is  awakened  in  the  bosom 
of  the  Church  by  the  Holy  Ghost;  it  ascends  to  the 
heavens  through  the  appointed  Mediator  and  finds  its 
end  and  home  in  the  ear  of  the  eternal  Father,  from 
whom  all  proceedeth  and  to  whom  all  returneth.  He 
is  the  Fountain-Head  of  love  (John  iii.  16),  which 
can  be  shed  forth  on  the  fallen  only  in  the  way  of 
mediati(5n  through  the  Son,  and  is  only  to  be  real- 
ized in  the  life  and  the  heart  of  believers  by  the 
Holy  Ghost. 


CHAPTEK  VI.    VERSES   10-24.  451 

(4)  We  are  to  watch  and  pei^severe  and  supplicate  for 
uU  saints.  This  opens  up  to  us  the  full  mind  of  our 
Father  regarding  the  use  of  the  panoply  which  he 
gives.  If  we  watch  not  against  the  tenij^tations  and 
attacks  of  the  enemy,  if  we  avoid  not  the  occasions  of 
sin  and  the  ways  of  ungodly  men,  our  prayers  are  mere 
hypocrisy  and  the  whole  armor  will  not  profit  us.  No, 
brother ;  we  must  watch.  The  known  evil  we  must 
avoid  at  all  hazards ;  the  sin  which  so  easily  besets  us 
we  must  abandon,  be  it  dear  as  the  right  eye  or  useful 
as  the  right  hand ;  the  known  path  of  duty  we  must 
follow  wherever  it  leads,  and  at  whatever  cost.  We 
are  walking  amidst  the  snares  of  the  fowler,  and  time 
and  sin  and  evil  customs  and  false  brethren  and  the 
ungodly  world  seek  to  throw  over  us  their  deceitful 
entanglements.  "What  I  say  unto  you,  I  say  unto  all, 
Watch."  But  we  must  persevere  also,  and  continue 
asking,  seeking,  knocking,  even  unto  the  end.  Ke- 
ligion  is  not  the  convulsive  effort  of  a  moment  (thougli 
it  often  begins  convulsively),  but  the  calm,  steady  de- 
termination of  a  mind  which  knows  what  it  is  doing 
and  has  counted  all  costs.  It  is  not  the  flashing  of  the 
lightning  which  rends  the  rocks  and  the  trees,  but  the 
radiance  of  the  sun  which  illumines  the  whole  world 
with  its  splendors.  "  On !  on !  on !"  is  ever  the  cry 
of  the  pilgrim,  however  beaten  back  by  the  waves  or 
impeded  by  the  tempests  of  the  deep,  for  he  knows  that 
the  Jordan  is  before  him  and  beyond  it  the  many-man - 
sioned  house  of  his  Father,  where  his  heart  and  his 
treasure  and  his  Saviour  are.  In  this  state  of  earn- 
est struggle  he  is  to  pray  for  all  saints.  The  belie^•er 
should  have  neither  party  nor  preferences  save  in  the 
degrees  of  holiness  to  be  found  in  the  Church.     He  is 


432  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

a  ])SiTt  of  the  bride,  he  is  a  branch  of  the  Vine,  he  is 
a  member  of  the  body,  and  his  aspiration  ever  is  that 
the  number  of  the  elect  may  quickly  be  completed  and 
the  glory  of  the  Head  shed  over  all  the  members.  He 
knows  there  is  but  one  temple,  one  Vine,  one  bride  of 
the  Lamb,  one  great,  glorious,  redeemed  Church — the 
saints,  all  saints ;  and  in  his  heart  and  in  his  suppli- 
cation he  can  embrace  them  all.  Names  and  parties 
go  for  nothing ;  he  recognizes,  with  his  Master,  only 
two  distinctions — saints  and  sinners,  sheep  and  goats, 
the  kingdom  of  light  and  the  kingdom  of  darkness. 
This  breaks  the  bonds  of  sectarianism  and  enlarges  the 
soul  into  the  dimensions  of  divine  love ;  this  lets  into 
the  darkness  and  littleness  of  our  minds  something  of 
the  expansive  force  of  the  hidden  life  which  circulates 
through  all  saints  and  makes  them  eternally  one  in 
Christ  Jesus.  Those  who  have  not  made  the  trial  do 
not  know  how  hard  it  is  to  love  and  to  pray  for  the 
saints  who  do  not  walk  in  the  same  paths  with  them- 
selves, and  tlie  best  way  to  get  over  this  narrow-minded- 
ness is  to  meditate  much  on  the  love  of  God,  which, 
like  light  from  the  sun,  flows  forth  abundantly,  and  in 
thus  beholding  the  glory  of  the  Lord  we  are  changed 
into  the  same  image,  from  glory  to  glory. 

XIV.    Prayer  for  Individuals. 

And  for  me,  that  utterance  may  be  given  unto  me,  that 
I  may  open  my  mouth  boldly,  to  make  knoivn  the  mystery 
of  the  gospel  (ver.  19). 

The  heart  of  the  apostle  is  not  filled  with  anger 
against  his  persecutors,  nor  does  he  pray  for  vengeance 
upon  the  enemies  of  the  Lord.  He  does  not  think  of 
liis  danger,  but  of  the  testimony  which  he  is  to  bear  for 


CHAPTEK   VI.    VERSES   10-24.  453 

his  Master.  He  is  indeed  confined,  but  his  soul  is  free ; 
and,  whether  free  or  incarcerated,  whether  in  Jerusalem 
or  in  Rome,  his  one  aim  is  to  proclaim  to  all  men  that 
gospel  of  grace  which  gives  "  liberty  to  the  captives 
and  the  opening  of  the  prison  to  them  that  are 
bound "  (Isa.  Ixi.  1).  He  asks  the  prayers  of  the 
church,  not  for  his  liberation,  but  that  words  may  be 
given  him,  that  he  may  be  filled  to  overflowing  with 
the  materials  of  the  gospel  history  and  qualified  to 
utter  it  with  demonstration  and  with  power.  He 
wants  utterance. 

What  a  gift  is  speech,  language,  oratory,  discourse, 
especially  when  it  concerns  God  or  the  Spirit  of  God 
or  the  incarnate  Son,  in  whom  dwells  all  the  fullness 
of  the  Godhead  bodily !  Paul  wants  utterance  to  tell 
out  the  great,  big  idea  of  God's  infinite  love  in  Jesus 
Christ.  It  is  not  eloquence,  but  utterance.  The 
thing  is  eloquent  enough  if  you  can  only  get  it  out — 
only  get  it  uttered.  Tell  the  tale  of  Jehovah's  love ; 
glory  only  in  the  cross ;  pray  for  words — big,  round, 
holy,  burning  words — that  with  open  mouth  and  loving- 
heart  you  may  make  known  the  mystery  of  the  gospel. 
Give  no  thought  to  mere  eloquence ;  your  place  and 
your  position  speak  for  you.  The  prison  is  an  elo- 
quent place ;  the  stripes  and  the  fetters  speak  for 
you ;  the  roaring  of  the  lions  is  an  eloquent  voice,  and 
the  martyr's  prayer  (Acts  vii.  54-60)  surpasses 
Tully,  Demosthenes  and  Chatham. 

But  kt  us  bridle  the  fancy  and  keep  close  to  the 
text.  Here,  then,  in  our  text  we  have  the  following 
important  facts. 

(1)  That  prayer — prayer  on  the  part  of  the  people 
as  well  as   on  the   part  of  the   pastor — is   absolutely 


4§4  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

necessary  to  the  right  preaching  of  tlie  gospel  in 
Christian  congregations  ( Acis  iv.  29 ;  Col.  iv.  3 ; 
2  Thess.  iii.  1).  Without  this  the  promised  blessmg 
cannot  be  expected  ;  without  this  the  preacher,  the 
j)risoner  and  the  martyr  lose  a  main  part  of  their 
power.  Love  is  the  great  uniter,  and  prayer  is  the 
offspring  of  love.  When  the  peoj)le  abound  in  prayer 
the  minister  will  not  lack  utterance,  and  the  result 
will  be  zeal  for  the  glory  of  God  and  love  to  the  souls 
of  men.  The  highest  office  is  the  apostolic,  and  it  did 
not  deliver  Paul  from  trials  and  dangers,  but  increased 
them  greatly ;  nor,  though  he  had  constant  fellowship 
with  God  and  the  Spirit  of  God  miraculously  dwelling 
in  him,  could  he  dispense  with  the  necessity  of  prayer. 
The  holier  we  are,  the  more  we  see  and  lament  our 
vileness.  Nearness  to  Christ,  the  Sun  of  righteous- 
ness, reveals  tlie  sin-spots  on  our  white  robes;  and 
we  may  add  that  in  proportion  as  we  imbibe  the  spirit 
of  our  Master  must  we  encounter  the  hatred  and  the 
opposition  of  the  world. 

(2)  Boldness  is  a  New-Testament  vii'tue :  the  apostle 
wished  to  speak  with  boldness.  Or  you  may  connect 
boldness  with  the  following  clause,  thus :  "  He  worked 
with  all  boldness  to  make  known  the  mystery  of  the 
gospel."  (See  Phil.  i.  20;  John  vii.  4;  Col  ii.  15; 
Acts  ii.  29 ;  iv.  29,  31 ;  xxviii.  31.)  This  bold,  earnest 
manner  of  stating  the  truth  is  in  entire  accordance  with 
the  nature  and  the  claims  of  the  gospel,  which  every- 
where appeals  to  human  guilt  and  the  necessity  of 
atonement  and  mediation.  Life  and  death  depend 
upon  your  words,  O  ye  heralds  of  the  cross !  Crowns 
of  glory  or  everlasting  ruin  are  the  alternatives  placed 
before  men.     Be  in  earnest,  as  becomes  such  a  message, 


CHAPTER    VI.     VERSES   10-24.  455 

and  proclaim  with  boldness  the  saving  doctrines  of  the 
cross. 

(3)  The  apostolic  preaching — indeed,  the  Christian 
ministry  generally — is  appointed  to  make  known  tlie 
mysteries  of  the  gospel.  God  is  no  longer  the  unknown 
and  unapproachable  God  whose  throne  is  surrounded 
with  darkness  and  with  terror.  The  only  begotten 
Son,  who  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  hath  declared 
him ;  the  fountains  of  salvation  are  opened  to  all,  and 
the  ministry  of  the  Spirit  is  to  make  it  known  to  man- 
kind. The  apostles  were  not  appointed  to  be  sacrificing 
]>riests,  as  the  papists  blasphemously  pretend,  but  to 
make  known  the  mysteries  of  the  gospel.  The  gos- 
pel ministry  is  to  teach,  not  to  sacrifice,  seeing  Jesus  has 
by  one  offering  for  ever  perfected  all  that  are  sanctified. 
Paul  will  make  known  this  mystery  to  all  the  world  ; 
there  is  no  concealment,  no  preaching  of  the  atonement 
with  reserve,  as  the  half  papists  among  us  would  do. 

Nor  should  the  word  mystsry  frighten  any  one,  as 
if  there  were  more  mysteries  in  grace  than  in  nature, 
in  the  redemption  than  in  the  creation  of  the  world. 
There  is,  in  reality,  less  mystery  in  the  word  than  in 
the  work  of  God.  We  know  a  great  deal  more  about 
the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  and  the  divine  Persons  of 
the  Godhead,  and  the  incarnation  of  Christ,  and  the 
Holy  Sj)irit  the  Comforter,  than  we  do  about  the 
eternity  of  God,  the  creation  of  the  universe  or  the 
essence  and  the  attributes  of  the  human  soul.  As 
for  the  essence  of  matter,  we  know  nothing  about  it. 
Mystery  is  not  with  us,  as  with  the  heathen,  something 
which  we  are  bound  to  conceal,  but  something  which 
God  has  commissioned  us  to  make  known.  Tell  all  the 
perishing  there  is  eternal  life  for  them  in  Jesus,  but 


456  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

think  not  to  expound  all  its  glories ;  proclaim  upon  all 
the  winds  of  heaven  the  mystery  of  all  mysteries — that 
God  is  love — but  leave  the  everlasting  ages  to  sound 
the  depths  of  that  ocean.  Preach  Jesus  Christ  and 
him  crucified ;  tell  forth  the  tale  of  his  love  to 
sinful  men ;  and  if  they  will  not  hear,  proclaim  it  to 
the  desert-winds.  But  still  there  remains  much  to 
be  told — many  of  the  depths  and  heights  of  redeem- 
ing love  which  we  shall  begin  to  understand  only  when, 
enlarged  in  our  faculties  and  purified  from  all  defile- 
ment, we  arrive  at  the  many-mansioned  house  of  our 
Father  in  heaven. 

XV.  The  Ambassador  in  Bonds. 

To  make  known  the  mystery  of  the  gospel,  for  which 
I  am  an  ambassador  in  bonds :  that  therein  I  may 
speak  boldly,  as  I  ought  to  speak  (ver.  20) . 

This  is  the  same  mystery  for  which  he  says  (Col.  iv. 
3),  "  I  am  in  bonds."  (Comp.  2  Cor.  v.  20.)  For  the 
gospel's  sake  I  execute  the  ofiice  of  an  ambassador  in 
a  chain.  The  chain,  the  one  chain,  some  take  to  be 
the  chain  with  which  he  was  bound  to  the  soldier  who' 
guarded  him ;  or  the  singular  may  be  taken  for  the 
])lural,  as  our  translators  have  done,  as  simply  desig- 
nating his  bondage  (Acts  xxviii.  20).  Bengel  has  a 
fine  thought  here :  ^'Mandiis  habet  legatos  splendidos, 
Christus  vinctos^  Yes,  indeed,  it  is  true :  "The  world 
has  splendid  ambassadors,  and  Christ's  are  in  bonds." 
Yet  if  ye  consider  it  well,  there  is  much  to  be  envie<l 
in  these  despised  messengers  and  ambassadors  of  the 
gospel.  They  can  in  their  prisons  sing  songs  of  sui'- 
passing  sweetness  (Acts  xvi.  25)  ;  sometimes,  too,  tli(" 
radiance  of  heavenly  light  shines  into  the  dungeon  an«l 


CHAPTER    VI.     VERSES   10-24.  457 

gilds  their  chains  with  glory  (Acts  xii.  7).  They  seem 
wondei'fuUy  composed  in  their  afflictions,  and,  what  m 
most  remarkable,  their  temper  is  never  embittered,  nor 
do  you  hear  any  complaint  out  of  their  mouth.  They 
seem  to  be  denizens  of  some  higher  sphere  where  a 
})erj3etual  serenity  pervades  all  hearts ;  they  turn  the 
cheek  to  the  smiter,  and,  like  their  Master,  when  dying 
under  murderous  hands  breathe  only  the  sj^irit  of  for- 
giveness and  of  love  (Acts  vii.  54-60).  There  seems 
to  be  in  all  this  something  truly  wonderful  and  divine 
— something  which  the  reason  w^ould  prefer  to  the  most 
splendid  embassies.  Behold  Paul  in  the  prison  and 
Caesar  on  the  throne,  and  tell  me  which  you  would 
prefer  to  be.  The  Caesars  are  dead  and  their  decrees 
have  perished,  but  Paul  and  his  fourteen  Epistles  live 
and  reign  and  fructify  in  the  hearts  of  millions.  Oh 
how  much  is  moral  excellence  superior  to  external 
splendor !  The  pomp  and  the  glory  of  the  imiDerial 
throne  are  all  gone,  but  the  letter  written  in  the  dun- 
geon of  E-ome  is  read  by  a  third  part  of  the  human 
race. 

The  hina  ("  that ")  in  the  last  clause  of  the  verse  is 
to  be  referred  to  verse  18,  thus  :  "  Praying  that  therein  " 
(in  the  mystery  of  the  gospel)  "  I  may  speak  boldly  as 
I  ought  to  speak."  All  these  afflictions,  imprison- 
ments and  bonds  are  necessary  concomitants  of  the 
gospel  message,  for  love  shown  to  the  unloving  is  a 
consuming  fire,  entering  into  their  bones  and  giving 
them  no  rest  night  or  day.  Yet  is  fire  the  purifying 
element  in  nature  for  the  rougher  and  harder  mate- 
rials ;  and  what  aie  all  the  trials  and  all  the  tempta- 
tions of  this  sinful  life — the  wrestlings  with  our  enemies 
and  the  manifold  persecutions  which,  whether  at  the 

58 


458  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

hand  of  paganism,  papacy  or  infidelity,  the  gracious 
God  allows  to  come  upon  us, — what  are  they  all  but 
the  furnace  from  which,  in  his  good  time,  all  the  faith- 
ful shall  come  forth  pure  and  beautiful  as  the  gold  of 
the  sanctuary,  a  holy  and  glorious  Church,  without 
spot  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing? 

XVI.  Conclusion, — Salutation. 

But  that  ye  also  may  knoiv  my  affairs,  and  how  I  do, 
Tychieus,  a  beloved  brother  and  faithful  minister  in  the 
Lord,  shall  make  known  to  you  all  tilings :  whom  1 
have  sent  unto  you  for  the  same  purpose,  that  ye  might 
know  OUT  affairs,  and  that  he  might  comfort  your  hearts. 
Peace  be  to  the  brethren,  and  love  with  faith,  from, 
God  the  Father  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Grace 
be  with  all  them  that  love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in 
sincerity.     Amen   (ver.  21-24), 

The  messenger  of  the  apostle  and  bearer  of  this 
Epistle  was  Tychieus,  a  beloved  brother  and  faithful 
minister  in  the  Lord.  He  is  mentioned  in  Acts  xx.  4 
as  an  Asiatic ;  in  Col.  iv.  7,  "  as  a  beloved  brother,  a 
faithful  minister  and  fellow-servant  in  the  Lord ;"  in 
2  Tim.  iv.  12  he  is  sent  by  Paul  to  Ephesus,  and  in 
Tit.  iii.  12  to  Crete.  This  is  all  we  know  of  him, 
and  it  is  quite  sufficient  to  account  for  the  want  of 
individual  salutations  at  the  end  of  this  Epistle,  as  if 
Paul  had  said,  "  I  am  well  known- to  you  all ;  I  labored 
long  among  you  at  Ephesus ;  I  know  and  love  you  all 
in  the  Lord  Jesus ;  and,  instead  of  mentioning  partic- 
ular names,  I  send  you  a  brother  who  shall  salute  you 
all  and  tell  my   affairs — the  things  that  concern  me.*" 

*  For  the  use  of  the  Greek  phrase,  see  Phil.  i.  12 ;    Acts  xxiv.  22 ; 
XXV.  14. 


CHAPTER   VI.    VERSES   10-24.  459 

He  shall  tell  you  all  particulars  and  comfort  your 
hearts."    He  then  sends  his  benediction  to  the  brethren. 

Brethren  in  the  present  day  is  a  word  that  signifies 
much ;  in  the  days  of  the  apostle  it  signified  more. 
These  holy  brethren  were  the  chosen  witnesses  for 
God  in  one  of  the  most  corrujDt  cities  in  the  world  the 
word  of  life  had  drawn  together  from  the  wastes  of 
heathenism ;  they  were  the  few  against  the  many,  the 
poor  against  the  wealthy,  the  followers  of  the  despised 
l^azarene  against  the  multitude  of  powerful  respectable 
citizens  who  could  boast  of  Greek  culture  and  a  cele- 
brated mythology.  To  be  a  brother  you  must  give  up 
much — name,  relatives,  fortune,  friends,  all  that  the 
world  holds  dearest — and,  instead,  be  content  with  the 
consolations  of  the  soul  and  the  hopes  of  the  life  to 
come. 

His  first  wish  or  prayer  for  them  is  peace — a  sweet 
and  most  blessed  fruit  of  the  gospel.  Jesus  is  the  Sar- 
shalom,  the  Prince  of  peace ;  his  gospel  brings  peace 
to  the  souls  of  distracted  men ;  and  the  kingdom  which 
we  preach  is  a  kingdom  of  righteousness  and  peace  and 
joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  He  came  with  the  angel-song 
of  peace,  and  he  ascended  from  the  Mount  of  Olives 
leaving  to  the  world  that  rejected  him  his  benedic- 
tions of  peace.  This  23eace  may  be  threefold,  peace  of 
conscience,  peace  with  our  fellow-men  and  peace  with 
God — a  peace  looking  inward,  outward  and  uj)ward. 

And  love.  This  is  a  diffusive  princip-e — love  to  God 
and  love  to  our  fellow-creatures  and  (especially  as 
Christians)  love  to  Christ.  Jesus  is  the  true  home  of 
the  heart,  where  all  our  sorrows  can  be  treasured  up 
and  all  our  wants  made  known.  He  is  the  life  of  all 
our  joys  and  the  death  of  all  our  woes. 


460  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

"  Jesu,  meines  Lebens  Leben ; 
Jesu,  meines  Todes  Tod ; 
Der  du  dich  fiir  mich   gegeben 

In  die  tiefste  Seel^nnoth, 
In  das  ausserste  Verderben, 
Nur  dass  ich  nicht  miichte  sterben. 
Tausend,  tausend  mal,  sei  dir 
Liebster  Jesu,  Dank  dafiir."  * 

"  We  love  him  because  he  first  loved  us,  and  gave  him- 
self for  us."  Peace  be  to  the  brethren,  and  love  with 
faith — that  is,  faith  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  But 
what  is  faith  ?  The  best  human  definition  is  this : 
"  Faith  is  a  saving  grace,  whereby  we  receive  Jesus 
Christ,  and  rest  upon  him  alone  for  salvation,  as  he  is 
offered  to  us  in  the  gospel."  Volumes  have  been  writ- 
ten on  the  nature  of  savino;  faith  without  making  it 
much  clearer.  It  is  the  simplicity  of  the  act  that  as- 
tonishes and  perplexes  us.  Like  the  Syrian  nobleman, 
we  would  do  some  great  thing  to  obtain  eternal  life 
and  cannot  easily  admit  what  is  freely  given  us  of  God. 
Yet  faith  has  many  forms  and  is  variously  described  in 
Scripture.  It  is  simply  believing  the  testimony  of 
God ;  it  is  the  sure  confidence  of  things  unseen ;  it  is 
following  the  Lamb  whithersoever  he  goeth ;  it  is  re- 
ceiving and  resting  upon  Christ ;  it  is  hearing  the  voice 
of  our  Father ;  it  is  seeing  Him  that  is  invisible ;  it  is 
coming  to  Christ  that  he  may  give  us  rest.  God  sends 
us  a  gift,  and  faith  takes  it ;  God   opens  the  fountain, 

*  "  Fount  of  life  for  ever  flowing, 

Death  of  death,  I  come  to  thee ; 
Jesus,  endless  life  bestowing, 

Thou  hast  borne  my  agony, 
Bitterest  sorrow,  sorest  pain, 
Life  eternal  to  regain. 
Thousand,  thousand  thanks  to  thee, 
Jesus,  for  thy  charity." 


CHAPTER    VI.    VERSES   10-24.  461 

and  faith  drinks  from  it ;  God  gives  the  manna,  and 
faith  gathers  it ;  the  cross  is  erected,  faith  looks  up  and 
we  are  healed.  Faith  takes  God  at  his  word  and  stag- 
gers not  at  difficulties,  while  it  fixes  its  eagle-glance  on 
the  unseen  realities  of  heaven.  As  the  old  monkish 
rhyme  has  it, 

"  Quid  est  Fides  ?  quod  non  vides. 
Quid  est  Spes?  futura  res. 
Quid  est  Cliaritas  ?  in  hoc  mundo  raritas."  * 

These  gifts  of  peace,  love  and  faith  are  from  God  the 
Father  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  exposition  of 
Grotius,  "Conjungit  causam  principem  cum  causa  se- 
cunda "  ("  He  joins  the  primary  with  the  secondary 
clause"),  may  be  taken  in  a  scriptural  sense,  as  the  love 
of  God  the  Father  is  the  source  (John  iii.  16)  from 
which  redeeming  mercy  flows ;  yet  it  ought  never  to  be 
forgotten  that  all  these  actions  of  grace  and  beneficence, 
as  well  as  all  the  attributes  of  the  Godhead,  are  in  the 
Scrij)ture  ascribed  equally  to  the  Father  and  the  Son. 
Their  glory  is  equal  and  their  majesty  coeternal.  They 
are  both  everywhere  in  the  Scripture  presented  to  the 
l^eliever  as  the  objects  of  faith  and  love,  trust  and  con- 
fidence, adoration  and  praise. 

The  apostle  concludes  with  grace :  "  Grace  be  with 
all  them  that  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity. 
Amen."  Grace  is  connected  with  God  (Col.  iv.  18 ;  1 
Tim.  vi.  21 ;  2  Tim.  iv.  22 ;  Tit.  iii.  15)  ;  with  Jesus 
Christ  (Eom.  xvi.  20,  24 ;  1  Cor.  xvi.  23 ;  2  Cor.  xiii. 
14;  Gal.  vi.  18;  Phil.  iv.  23;  1  Thess.  v.  28 ;  2  Thess. 

*  "  Faith,  what  is  that  ?  an  unseen  somewhat. 
What  is  Hope  ?  a  future  thing,  a  rope. 
What  is  Charity?  in  this  world  a  rarity." 


462  GRAHAM    ON    EPHESIANS. 

iii.  18 ;  Philem.  25)  ;  with  the  Holy  Spirit  (Heb.  x. 
29 ;  1  Cor.  xii.  4) .  All  is  free  grace  in  the  matter  of 
salvation.  With  this  thought  the  apostle  begins  and 
with  it  he  ends  the  Epistle ;  and  well  he  may,  for  noth- 
ing sweeter  than  grace  meets  the  anxious  heart. 

"  Grace !  'tis  a  charming  sound, 
Harmonious  to  the  ear; 
Heaven  with  the  echo  shall  resound, 
And  all  the  earth  shall  hear." 

Here,  then,  in  grace,  in  the  last  verse  as  at  the  begin- 
ning, we  come  to  the  fountain-head  of  all  our  hopes. 
Free  and  pure  as  the  river  of  God  it  flows  from  the 
sanctuary  above,  and  whosoever  will  may  take  of  the 
water  of  life  freely.  His  grace  goes  before  you,  follows 
you  like  the  water  from  the  rock,  and  encircles  you  at 
every  step  till  you  enter  the  promised  glory. 

"  In  Jesu  ruht  der  Seel'  Verlangen,' 

Die  ach  !  so  mlid  von  Sorg'  und  Lust  ;^ 
Sein  Gnadenarm  will  mich  umfangen,' 

Da  lieg'  ich  sanft  an  seiner  Brust.* 
Ich  liebe  Jesu  heren  Namen  ;* 

Emanuel  mein  treur  HortI® 
Gleich  Bllithenhauch  aus  edlem  Samen,' 

Wallt  Jesu  Nam'  von  Ort  zu  Ort."^* 

'  Deut.  xxxiii.  27.        ^  Matt.  xi.  28.       »  Song  ii.  6.      *  John  xiii.  83. 
"*  1  John  iv.  19.        «  Matt.  i.  23.        ^  Song  i.  3.        «  Phil.  ii.  9,  10. 

Do  we  not  love  to  linger  at  this  fountain  of  grace  ? 

*  "  In  Jesus  Christ,  the  Rock  of  ages, 

The  weary  soul  finds  perfect  rest. 
And  when  the  tempest  fiercely  rages 

Reposes  sweetly  on  his  breast. 
I  love  the  holy  name  of  Jesus : 
It  makes  us  strong,  from  danger  frees  us ; 
Like  galea  from  Araby  the  Blest, 
It  sheds  perfumes  from  east  to  west." 


CHAPTEK    VI.     VERSES  10-24.  463 

Oh  yes,  we  do,  for  we  can  say,  "  We  too  love  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity."  His  name  is  more  to  us 
than  are  a  thousand  worlds,  and,  like  Paul,  we  desire 
to  glory  only  in  his  cross. 

Reader,  we  have  now  finished  our  travels  together  in 
this  pleasant  garden,  and,  like  all  others,  we  must  part. 
To  me  this  labor  has  not  been  a  toil,  and  to  thee  may 
it  not  be  unprofitable.  Grace  and  peace  be  with  thee ! 
Amen ! 


THE   END. 


Date  Due 


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